


Not Again

by Ubermunchkin



Series: Bellon Series: [3]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game), World of Warcraft
Genre: Gen, Other, Past Relationship(s), Some Humor, some foul language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-10-08 21:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17394149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ubermunchkin/pseuds/Ubermunchkin
Summary: If you haven't yet, I suggest you read "Revenge is Not the Answer" and "What the Hell" first.Bellon'dfrey'theris is enjoying the good life as a husband and father on his home world Csilla when he gets a blast from the past. One holocall sends him, his wife, and their infant daughter on a journey into wild space to save his old friends and their planet.Prior events on this isolated planet have come to the attention of the Jedi Council.The Empire, the Republic, and Bellon and his friends end up colliding on Azeroth.





	1. Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> The Jedi Council review intercepted intelligence about events on a remote, formerly unknown planet of Force users. They must set a plan in motion that prevents this planet from falling under the thumb of the Empire.

Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan looked at the report that had been dropped on her desk and sighed. “How did they find this place?” She shook her head and tried to figure out how she was going to tell the Jedi Council.

One name stood out, Bellon’dfrey’theris, major, aka Cipher 9, Imperial intelligence. Of course, HE would be the one the imperials sent. His reports from this remote planet in Wild Space to Keeper, the head of Imperial Intelligence, had been intercepted then suddenly ceased. The last report might have been a clue, something about not relaying any more reports until Darth Vowrawn himself arrived.

She mused over the contents of the reports. The residents of this planet seemed to all be Force Sensitive. However, some of the agent’s, who she knew as Billy Dekidt, claims seemed to be totally off the wall. On the other hand, she had never known him to exaggerate. But the claims of defying death, being able to turn people into something different, a planet not visible from space but visible from the planet surface all seemed too fantastic.

She frowned at the report writer’s admonishment that the Jedi and Republic should have been on top of this and gotten to this planet first. Then she fought the urge to smile with pride; the name on the report was Theron Shan, Strategic Information Service (SIS) agent. Maybe she should get him to come to Tython to present the information.

No, bad idea, the two always ended up arguing. She turned to the console on her desk and called an emergency meeting of the Jedi Council to be convened in one standard hour. She spent the intervening time trying to put together a presentation that didn’t sound like she was ready for retirement.

When the hour was up, she was in her seat in the Council Chamber with Master Bela Kiwiiks, Master Tol Braga, and Master Syo Bakarn in residence and in their seats. Masters Zym, Orgus Din, Nikil Nobil, Wens Aleusis, Oric Traless, Griffis Fane, Jaric Kaedan, and Gnost-Dural were attending by holo being on distant planets. They all looked at her with expectant concern.

“About two standard hours ago, I received a report from SIS. The Imperials have found and are courting to join them, a planet that appears to be inhabited completely by Force sensitives, and powerful ones at that.” Shan looked around the table at her peers letting that news sink in.

Finally, Orgus Din broke the silence. “How did the Imperials find it?”

Shan shrugged. “SIS apparently doesn’t know how that happened. They intercepted reports being sent by a Cipher agent the imperials sent to the planet to assess it. What we do know, is at the time the report was transmitted, no negotiations had taken place; however, Dark Council Member, Darth Vowrawn is expected to negotiate the alliance.”

That brought murmurs of concerns from the 12 masters.

She plowed on. “We need to come up with a plan to negate the effectiveness of this alliance. All indications are that these people are VERY strong in the Force.” She brought the report up on the central holoterminal and highlighted some of Cipher 9’s claims of witnessed use of the Force.

“Resurrection from death? That’s impossible!” Zym exclaimed.

Shan found a link to a video.

“What’s prodigious mean?” a little green creature asked.

“That does it.” A voice with a distinct Drumond Kass accent said. “The subject has just changed. Allow me to demonstrate the transience of death. Say goodbye to Keeper, Torque,” the voice said. 

“Goodbye to keeper torque.” The green humanoid frowned confused.

There was a blaster shot and the little creature was flung back with a hole between his eyes.

The narration continued. “As you will observe, Torque Sharpshiv now has a fist sized hole in his head and so is most assuredly dead. However, observe closely and you will see the damage begin to repair itself; it has already begun.

“The process, without the assistance of a resurrection from Luxraina or Cinnabar takes anywhere from 10 to 20 standard minutes. I shall continue with my prior explanation while we wait for Torque’s miraculous recovery.”

The narration continued about people the Cipher agent had met but with the camera on the little green humanoid named Torque.

Torque suddenly sat up. “You mother-fucking sonofabitch. You got blood all over my robes and bed.”

“As you can see, Torque Sharpshiv is none the worse for wear,” the narrator said impassively.

“None the worse for wear! That hurt you blue-skinned, plague-sore carbuncle. And now I gotta clean blood out of silk.”

“Oh, stop whining, use that clean-o-matic thingie.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Shan shut the video off. “I have sent a copy of the SIS report with accompanying documentation to all of you. If the Imperials get their hands on this before unknown Force ability to rise from the dead, the Republic is doomed.”

She looked down at her personal holocommunicator; someone was outside the chamber and wanted to speak with her and the message was tagged as urgent. She used the Force to open the doors.

A brown-haired man in his 30s with cybernetic implants around his left eye strode in. He wore a red jacket, greyish pants and was armed with a blaster.

“Agent Shan,” Master Shan greeted with trepidation.

“Master Shan,” Theron greeted with a total lack of warmth. “I won’t make you ask why I’m here. It’s about that report. We’ve intercepted two follow-up reports. One states Darth Vowrawn is on the planet Azeroth. The other is a report from Darth Vowrawn stating that a treaty has been successfully negotiated.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Azeroth now belongs to the Empire, and the Senate, specifically Chancellor Saresh are extremely concerned. They have authorized implementation of Operation Deliverance.”

“Well, that’s not good,” Master Nobil muttered.

“I have been in communication with General Garza, Republic Special Forces. Havoc Squad is at your disposal.” Theron Shan met the eyes of each master. He did not have the apparent awe for Jedi most people had. His eyes finally fell and Satele.

She sighed. “Are you to be part of the team?”

“Yes,” Theron answered simply.

“I’ve worked with Tavus bef…”

“He defected and has since been killed. This would be the new and improved Havoc squad,” Theron cut the master off quickly. He looked back at Shan. “Who will you assign to the team?”

Satele narrowed her eyes. “I just got your report not two standard hours ago. I am still digesting the information. Now you want me to put together a World Liberation Team?”

Basen’Thor spoke up, “I’ll go. I can infiltrate the enemy.” Basen’Thor happened to be a defector from the Chiss Ascendancy.

“Not a good idea considering who Cipher 9 is,” Theron said.

“Billy Dekidt, aka Bellon’dfrey’theris,” Satele added. She looked at Basen’Thor. “Aren’t you related to him somehow?

The Chiss woman nodded in resignation. “We are both Clan Theris.”

That Satele knew who Cipher 9 was seemed to impress Theron, he looked at Satele with some surprise mixed with pride. Of course, she would know Billy Dekidt. Theron had come upon his analytical skills legitimately.

“Well, the idea of someone who can pretend to be Sith is a good idea. One Jedi among us formerly studied on Korriban, Master Kayla…”

“NO, not her!” Theron frantically shook his head. “She’ll turn the place into a smoldering ruin if they so much as look at her wrong.”

His comment received unanimous agreement from the other Jedi masters.[1]

Satele rubbed her temples. This was not going to be easy. This job could be trusted to only one probably two masters. She wracked her mind for two promising Jedi.

The meeting dragged long into the afternoon as the 12 council members and Agent Shan decided which two Jedi would lead the team and the details.

[1] Read Do Not Mess 


	2. Domestic Bliss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellon'dfrey'theris is happily married and loves his baby girl. Dirty diapers and dinner with his mother in law are just part of his new life.

Bellon’dfrey’theris took the fussy baby girl, Bellon’rena’theris, and propped her over his shoulder. He began humming deep in his chest and patting her diapered bottom. He smiled over at his life mate as the child settled.

“Thank you.” Shalaya'loa'nuruodu headed into the bedroom to change her shirt. “Don’t let her barf on your uniform.”

“I take it you’ve had a rough day,” Bellon said keeping his voice low as he followed Loa. “Has my little _Gizka_ been making mommy’s day hard?”

“Rena has been crawling all over the place chewing on everything. She’s cutting her teeth and so has been colicky; this is my third change of clothes. I look forward to going back to work. My Mamma can’t WAIT to spoil her granddaughter.” She smiled sadly at her life-mate.

“What’s wrong?” he asked suddenly concerned.

“It’s just that she will never know her paternal family. I can’t imagine having grown up not knowing both sides of my family.”

“I’ll tell her stories,” Bellon chuckled and kissed Loa’s cheek. “She’s asleep,” he noted. “You need a vacation.”

“I’ve been off work for seven months, now.” Loa reached to take Rena back.

Bellon shrugged her off. “Not from the baby, from the drudgery of house work. A real honest-to-goodness vacation from the rut, a couple of weeks by the sea in the equatorial region of Noris.” He headed back into the living area of their apartment.

“That would be a day at mommy work, just in a different place,” she called after him.

They were living in the caves of the Nuruodo clan on Csillia. This put them both near their places of employment, Loa to the Expeditionary Defense Forces Headquarters and Bellon to the Chiss Ascendancy Intelligence Training Academy. Bellon’s clan, Theris, was from Schesa, one of the outlying planets of the Ascendancy.

Though he was in the military, which made him part of the Nuruodo clan, and he could thus take that clan for his own, the Ruling Families had decided that he should keep both his family and clan name, since he was the sole surviving Bellon and there were few males amongst the Theris clan. Upon his return to the Ascendency, the Families wanted to keep him close; especially when they learned that he was Force sensitive, something not known about him previously, and that Sith Intelligence wanted him back.

Bellon eased onto the divan in the living space of their apartment and voice-activated the holoterminal to the evening news.

“I need to get back to work, to feel like an adult,” Loa said sliding onto the divan beside him, tucking her legs under her, and leaning on his shoulder. “Anything interesting happen at work today?” It was a joke; neither spoke of their classified work.

Bellon grunted. “Same-ole, same-ole. I despair for the future of C-A-I.” He grimaced at a new odor. “You stay here, I’ll change her.”

“What did I do to deserve you?” she asked with a sigh as Bellon took the baby to her room for a fresh diaper.

“You’re beautiful; I deserve beautiful,” he quipped back then ducked into the nursery before being hit by the thrown pillow.

“Oh, that war on that planet you were on seems to be over,” Loa called. “The Ascendancy has assigned a member of clan Loro as Consular.”

“We have a Consulate on Azeroth? Cool. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. What did you feed her today?”

“Big-kid food mashed up, last-night’s leftover Saybeen stew. Her first two molars came through today. The Empire is giddy with pride at their marvelous resolution of hostilities on Azeroth. I suppose you had nothing to do with gaining that planet as an ally. Gack!” Loa growled in distaste.

Bellon heard the holoterminal switch to music. Cleaned and dressed, he stood Rena on her pudgy legs and bobbed with her to the beat. “Who’s my best girl? Who’s my baby?” He scooped her into his arms and danced around the brightly decorated nursery. “Yes, sir, she’s my best girl; she’s my baby. I love her the best.” When Rena giggled, he kissed her cheek and danced into the living area.

“Your turn to cook, so what are we having?” he asked waltzing back to the divan.

“Oh, by the Families, what is she wearing?” Loa laughed. Bellon had Rena dressed in booties and socks and dress and cape of all different patterns and colors. The garish outfit stood out against his staid purple-black uniform.

“Clan Theris doesn’t have any colors, so I’m making them up as I go along,” he explained pleased with himself. “So, what’s for dinner?”

Loa looked sheepishly at him. “I told Mamma we’d come over for dinner. I hope you don’t mind?”

He handed her Rena. “I’ll change,” was his answer and he disappeared back into their bedroom. “I like your Mum; she’s a blast.”

********

Dinner with Loa’s mother turned out to include her brother, General Avath’eal’nuruodo and his spouse.

“You missed a glorious fight, Loa,” the general said, “and we missed your most excellent flying skills. We managed to make precision strikes against those Legion bastards on Argus shutting down their portals from wherever-the-hell they came from. Their inability to supply reinforcements made our clean-up easy.” He smiled at his niece.

Loa blushed at the praise. “We can’t all forget the groundwork Dfrey laid for opening Azeroth up for us.”

Loa’s mother, Shalaya’alya’binetro straightened from feeding Rena mashed-up food and squared her shoulders. “No, we shouldn’t. However, I am much happier knowing you are both safe here at home, with the baby. Who’s my precious little girl? Oh, look at those teeth.”

“ _Tta_ ,” Rena slapped her high-chair tray and opened her mouth for more.

There was a flicker of the lights in the room. Alya groaned and muttered about possibly losing power, again.

“I really didn’t expect the Ascendancy to pull off having a Consulate,” Bellon admitted.

“Oh, the Azerothians insisted. The Empire was not wholly pleased but gave in since it became a game changer in negotiations.” Eal grinned at Bellon. “You made one helluva impression on Khadgar and Thrall.”

“So now that they are rid of the Burning Legion and seem to be at peace amongst themselves, what happens?” Bellon asked.

“They are working with the Empire to provide Force users for the war with the Galactic Republic.” Eal’s spouse, Shria, explained. “I shall be the liaison for them.” She mocked a frown. “Apparently, the Azerothian leadership doesn’t wholly trust the Sith. I wonder who put that into their heads?”

“That wasn’t me!” Bellon defended. “The Sith did that all by their onesies. One is still loose in the Hinterlands for all I know, and the other is shagging a Deathknight.”

“Dfrey! The baby.” Alya held her hands over Rena’s ears.


	3. Blast from the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellon and his family get home from a nice evening with the in laws; he's hardly in the door when he gets an urgent holocall. He's not sure he wants to accept this "recall" to duty. He's got a family to think about now, but his wife is going stir-crazy.

By the time Bellon and Loa returned to their apartment, Rena was asleep in his arms. Before he could even head for the nursery, the holoterminal beeped an in-coming call.

“I’ll get it,” Loa said and opened the link.

“Billy, Billy, you there?” An urgent and familiar, dry, grating, voice speaking accented basic stopped him in his tracks.

He hurried back to stand where the terminal would pick up his image. “Arbeth?” He stared at the desiccated humanoid dressed in mail armor holding a vicious, glowing bow. A spider chittered happily and danced on its eight legs at her side. “Hi, Dr. Nope.”

“Oh, thank the Titans, Billy we… Is that the baby? O-o-o-o, she’s so adorable. Lux, Cin come see.” Arbeth William’s urgent tone suddenly shifted to cooing idiocy and a soft voice that wouldn’t startle the sleeping child.

“Heh, did you…”

“Shush, the baby is sleeping,” Arbeth hissed to the male speaker off camera.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this call, Arbeth?” Bellon asked. “Hey, Torque,” he greeted the short, green, long-eared humanoid in robes that stepped into view.

“Look at you, being a daddy and all. How fucking domesti… Ow!” Torque winched when he was hit in the head by a dark cloven hoof.

“Watch your language in front of the baby.” A bovine head leaned in, “Hello, Billy. Oh, she’s so tiny.”

What was it about babies that turned the most staid and respectable into cooing idiots? “Hi, Lux.”

“Let me put her to bed,” Loa reached for the sleeping baby.

“Heh, is that the wife? Hi, hot momma lady,” Torgue greeted when the lithe form of the woman appeared on the communicator.

Loa gave the goblin a pained look, “hi?” She hastily took Rena away.

“What is the reason for this call and where the hell are you?” Bellon asked trying to recognize the rocky landscape behind the group crowding into the communicator’s camera.

“Silithus,” Arbeth explained. “Torque; touch my butt again and I’ll kill you.” She pushed him out of camera range.

“Silithus? Where’s that?”

“Kalimdor, southwest of where you were picked up,” she explained.

“We have a situation,” Torque called. “Show him, Arbeth.”

The scene moved to show a landscape scoured of dirt, all bare rock. In the center was this huge thing. “What the… What’s that?” Bellon asked.

“Sargeras’ sword,” Arbeth explained from off camera.

“That’s one big sword.” Bellon was awed. “It has to be at least a-half kilometer wide and, judging by the fact it looks to have about two thirds of its blade’s length stuck into the ground, my guess is it’s about four kilometers from the tip of the hilt to the point.  I didn’t know Sargeras was that big.”

“He was a Titan,” Luxraina, the Tauren paladin took up the explanation. “He was their champion until he betrayed and murdered them. He wanted to destroy Azeroth’s world soul before it could be corrupted by the Great Dark Beyond. We defeated him, and he is now imprisoned. However, his last act was to stab Azeroth, and she has been bleeding out ever since. We stopped that temporarily; but we need a more permanent solution.”

“How did you temporarily stop the bleeding out?” Bellon asked.

The scene turned from the giant sword to a group of four; they each held their weapons, which were glowing red.

“Our weapons of badassery are now weapons of total annihilation,” Torque explained.

“Then use them to break Sargeras’ sword,” Bellon suggested.

“Tried that, we can’t get close enough. The Sith tried; it ate a group of about 25 of their top baddies,” Torque said.

“Anyone we know?” Bellon asked hopefully.

“No, Daiva and Phallic are cleaning up the Burning Legion stragglers on the Broken Isles. Foulran and his pets went back to his Dark Council; and Hypocriticus is still in the Hinterlands with Zar Ma’zhin beating on Wildhammers,” Torque said, then grimaced. “Apparently Hippo and Zar are an item now.”

“Anything I should know?” Loa returned and stood beside Bellon.

“Angry sex all the time,” Bellon answered.

“Sorry I asked. You said that thing ate Sith?” She dragged the conversation back on track.

“Hello, I’m Luxraina, Sunseeker paladin of the Blackhoof clan; this is Master Hunter Arbeth Williams, Archmage Torque Sharpshiv, and High Priestess Cinnabar. You must be Loa; we heard so much about you. We’re all pleased to meet you.”

Loa smiled and nodded. “It’s nice to put faces to names. Dfrey has told me all about his adventures with you.” Her expression changed. “How did it eat Sith?”

“They just, pffft, vanished in smoke when they touched it.” Arbeth waved her hand vaguely. “That smoke was then sucked into the sword.”

“What about the Empire?” Bellon asked.

“After losing 25 Sith, they want nothing to do with it. Said it’s our problem.” Cinnabar frowned. “So, we’re calling you.”

“Me? What do you want me to do about it?”

“Fix it,” Torque piped up happily.

“Fix it? How?”

“With your brilliant mind,” Torque elaborated grinning.

Bellon rubbed his face. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this but I’m a wee bit short to just pull it out of the ground.”

“We’ve got to do something or Azeroth will die!” Arbeth said dramatically. “We want you to come back and help us figure this out.”

“We cleared it with your Counselor, _Yada’yada_ ’loro,” Torque said. “He said it’s okay for you to come to Azeroth if you’re willing.”

Bellon took in the hopeful expressions of his four friends.

“We have to do something,” Loa said hugging his arm.

“We?” He looked at her. “Oh, no-no-no, this is no picnic in the Noris equatorial zone.”

Loa’s eyes narrowed and her jaw set. “I am not staying behind like some bloody, shrinking, wall flower.”

“What about Rena? She’s only five months old,” Bellon countered.

“Pfft, she’ll be fine. I’ll use the carrier. Now, let’s see, we’ll need…” Loa wandered off toward the bedroom running through a mental list.

“Yeah!!!!!!!!” Torque was hopping around clapping.

“Signal us when you reach Dalaran, which is over Silithus at the moment. Arbeth out.” The holocall abruptly ended.

“Loa, honey, we can’t just go traipsing off to Wild Space. We have responsibilities, real jobs here.” Bellon hurried into the bedroom.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll clear it with Uncle Eal. Now where’s your Dfrey Mark 1 Fart Rifle of Death?” Loa began scrounging through their closet.


	4. Back on Azeroth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellon is reunited with his old partners from Azeroth. Loa is reunited with a pilot's seat. Rena gets a cookie. All is right with the universe.  
> They arrive in Dalaran as part of the diplomatic corps. When he meets with his friends, Bellon assesses the situation and decides the place to start is with Archmage Khadgar.

Bellon wouldn’t admit it, but he was as excited as Loa to get back into the field. The mundane existence of a life-mate, father, and instructor were fine, but he missed the adrenaline rush of field work.

He glanced over at Loa, asleep in her CEDF pilot’s uniform with Rena in a carrier at her chest. “Mamma!” The sudden noise startled Loa awake. “Are we there yet?” she asked groggily and rubbing her eyes.

“We’ll be coming into orbit in one standard hour,” he explained.

“You left T-9 flying the ship?” Loa started to get up.

“Relax, we’re still in hyper space and on auto pilot. All it’s doing is monitoring the readouts. Here, have a drink,” he urged her to relax and take a sip of Alderanian wine. “It has orders to tell us when we’re ready to exit hyper space. We’ll be outside the Azeroth system; you can take us in.”

General Avath had blessed their trip; apparently, he received word of the operation at about the same time Arbeth had called Bellon. CEDF had provided them with a long-range fighter-bomber, in case they needed their own fire support. They were traveling as part of the diplomatic team on its way to man the new Chiss Consulate at Dalaran. The vessel carried a diplomatic identifier so that the Empire wouldn’t look too closely. It appeared to be a ship carrying the Consulate CEDF guards and equipment. They even had a four-man squad on board.

The Chiss didn’t want the Empire to know Bellon was returning to Azeroth. Sith Intelligence, a replacement agency to Imperial Intelligence, was still looking for him and considered him AWOL. It would create a huge diplomatic boondoggle if the Imperials got their hands on him. They carried a grudge; apparently it took weeks to clean four-week-old, dragon/ogre-mix shit off the pristine streets of Dromund Kaas after the Simulacrum, which Daiva Springday had made to cover for Bellon, exploded. Not to mention the officers, escorting the _faux_ Bellon, and the Sith, who recognized it was a thing, had to strip in the square and burn their clothes then go through decontamination.

Bellon loved that image.

“Master Ondfreyth…”

“Oh crap.” Bellon shook his head. “Don’t call me that, T-9. What is it?”

“I beg your forgiveness most magnanimous of masters. Exiting hyper space in T-minus 20 minutes,” the mechanical voice over the intercom announced.

“Captain Shalaya is on her way.” Bellon took Rena and Loa’s glass. “Have fun dearest.” He grinned. “Why don’t we go watch Mamma fly like a beast?”

“Mamma!” Rena announced loudly and lurched.

Bellon put her on her feet and held her hands. He steadied her as they walked onto the bridge, where he strapped her into a special seat. “T-9, entertain her.” He slid into the navigator’s seat and secured himself.

“ _Triskelion_ , this is _Raptor_ , over,” Loa announced over the inter-ship radio.

Bellon put on his headset to listen to the conversation. Loa would do all the talking until they landed. He listened to the inter-ship communications coordinating the three diplomatic vessels’ exit from hyperspace outside the Azeroth star system.

“Exiting hyperspace, engage sub-light engines in three-two-one,” she reported.

Bellon was watching Loa; when she switched the hyper drive off, he switched the sub-light engine’s on. The ship free-floated for a moment. Suddenly the Azeroth system was in front of them and the other two ships appeared in the small V formation.

It was ten more hours of flying before they were in orbit around Azeroth. The three Chiss Ascendancy ships waited for clearance to land at a spaceport near the Silithus location of Dalaran.

“Look at that thing,” Loa peered at the bridge vid-port showing the blue planet below. The Sword of Sargeras was visible.

Bellon let out a low whistle. “I don’t know where to start in dealing with that thing.”

Loa smiled confidently. “You’ll think of something, honey.” She straightened and responded to the commander of the _Triskelion_. “Prepare for atmospheric entry. Radio blackout in 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.”

Bellon heard the static on his headset. He could see the other two Chiss diplomatic ships ahead of the _Raptor_ ; heat from friction against the atmosphere engulfed them and left blazing trails. The sword loomed off to their left; Dalaran hung suspended ahead of them; the continent of Kalimdor was stretched out below, from the white mountains of Winterspring to the broad dessert of Tanaris and Ulduar.

“Azeroth Base, this is _Raptor_ , designation CDV (Chiss Diplomatic Vessel) 1492 Captain Yaloan commanding. Requesting permission to land,” Loa announced in Basic.

“Permission granted, welcome to Azeroth, captain. Landing tractor beam will engage in three minutes, begin countdown. Reduce speed to 700KPH, take altitude 1150K.” The voice on the other end was pure Dromund Kaas.

Finally, the ship was docked beside the other two diplomatic ships in a secure Chiss-controlled docking hangar. Bellon and Loa threw their purple-black CEDF officer capes over their uniforms and pulled the hoods down to cover their faces. Rena rode in a carrier strapped to her mother under the voluminous cape.

Their luggage and gear would be transported separately by the ships’ droids. They carried only important documents and personal items.

Once off the ship, they fell into step behind the rest of the diplomatic team. Both had their weapons at hand. The squad of four CEDF soldiers in their flat black uniforms flanked the diplomats and two officers; they moved as a group through the spaceport bypassing customs. The hoods, all the party members wore, hid their faces.

They stepped out onto the stark landscape of Desolace. Bellon could see Dalaran floating above Silithus beyond the green hills of Feralas.

A shuttle with Ascendancy markings was waiting for them; the Chiss pilot stood at the foot of the steps. He greeted the team and led them on. “Capt. Shalaya,” he smiled and saluted when she dropped her hood.

“Lt. Mitth.” She returned the salute.

“Do you want to fly her?” Mitth offered indicating the pilot’s seat.

“In a heartbeat.” Loa flung off her cape and handed Rena to Bellon.

He laughed at her exuberance. She was right; she needed to get back to work; it made her happy.

“Mamma?” Rena pointed at her mother strapping into the pilot’s seat.

“Mamma is going to fly us,” Bellon told her.

“Your mamma is a top pilot,” one of the diplomats told the Chiss toddler. “Are you going to be a pilot when you grow up?”

“ _Nah_!,” Rena announced decisively leaning and reaching. No was the newest word in her vocabulary after momma and dadda. She used the three frequently. Mamma was all females. Dadda was all males. No was everything else.

The diplomat looked shocked at the rebuttal.

“She wants a cracker,” Bellon translated and picked one from a handy snack tray. “Though I am going to encourage her to learn to use that word as she gets older.”

Rena happily stuck the treat in her mouth and pointed at the almost offended diplomat. “Mamma.”

“You never had children, did you, Kara?” one of the others asked.

“Uh, no,” Kara admitted.

“Please strap in,” Lt. Mitth announced from the co-pilot seat.

About two hours later, the shuttle settled on Krasus’ Landing. The area was clear of civilians. The Consular, Aristocra Prard’omo’loro waited for them.

Loa and Bellon allowed the diplomats to exit first and greet the Consular.

Bellon paused and looked around. The last time he had been here, the landing was crowded with Bradensbrook Worgen and Alexstraza and her entourage; not to mention the Imperial soldiers who were intent upon taking him back to Dromund Kaas for disciplinary actions. He remembered the odd sensation when the bronze dragon Chronormu, aka Chromie, stopped time and replaced him with the Simulacrum just as he was entering the Imperial shuttle.

“Argus is gone,” he noted looking to the southwest. He pulled out his personal communicator and coded in a frequency. “Hi Arbeth; I’m at Krasus’ Landing. We’re going to check into the Consulate; tell me where to meet you later.”

“There’s a tavern in the Cantrips and Crows section of the Underbelly,” the huntress replied curtly and ended the call.

Leaving Krasus’ Landing, they had to pass an Imperial guard standing at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the landing. Bellon made extra sure the hood of his cape covered his face as well as ensuring he didn’t look into any monitoring cameras.

To reach the Consulate, they entered a circular building across the street from the landing and used a portal. The Consulate was in fact on one of the small islands that floated around the city of Dalaran.

They were shown their apartment, which had a wide window facing south; the scene was dominated by the Sword of Sargeras.

“Huh, well, I guess that will be a constant reminder why we’re here,” Bellon noted before turning away from the view to head into the bedroom. Their luggage was already waiting.

“I’ll start settling us in, you go meet your friends,” Loa suggested setting Rena on the floor with some toys. “Oh, you might want to change into something less Chissy. The clothes you brought with you from before are in that case.”

“You’re brilliant.” He pulled the boots, britches, tunic, armor and helmet out of the bag and changed. “Be back in a jiff,” he kissed her cheek and left.

Once back in the portal room on Dalaran, he watched the street for a moment when no one would notice him. There were a large number of Sith and Imperial soldiers on the street. The Empire had two embassies, one in Stormwind and one in Orgrimmar; they had a small garrison in Dalaran. All he had to do was cross the street and enter the tunnels beside the entry to Krasus’ Landing. But he had to do it without being recognized.

He kept his helmet on as he made his way through the underbelly of the city. To his relief, there were no Sith or soldiers down here, but he kept his helmet on. When he reached the area known as Cantrips and Crows, he saw Arbeth standing outside a tavern.

When he greeted her, she surprised him by giving him a hug. “Oh, Billy, I am so glad you’re here.” She grabbed his hand and tugged him inside. He was immediately greeted by her hunting spider, Dr. Nope, who bumped his legs and chittered.

“Good to see you too, creepy buddy. Hi, guys,” he greeted the others as he pulled his helmet off. He then grabbed Torque by the neck and stuck his face in the mage’s. “No one, and I mean no one calls my mate ‘hot momma lady’ and lives. Do you understand me?” He dropped Torque.

“Loud and clear,” Torque slid into a chair across the table out of Bellon’s reach.

“So, what is going on?” Bellon asked taking a seat.

“Khadgar is in Karazhan going over Medivh’s old tomes in an effort to find something useful,” Arbeth began. “Thrall is in Silithus trying to prevent ANYONE from mining the blood of Azeroth; they call it Azurite and it’s corrupted. Magni Bronzebeard is overseeing the demilitarized zone around the sword; he’s in communication with Azeroth herself. Sylvanas is gearing up the Horde for another war to take the sword and exploit the power of Azeroth’s life blood. Anduin is also gearing the Alliance up for war, because Sylvanas is. Your Empire wants the power of Azurite too but won’t go near the sword since it ate their people; they are instigating the goblin miners.”

“It is not MY Empire,” Bellon pointed out sullenly. “So, what you’re telling me is that this has become a complete cock up!”

“In a word,” Torque asserted. “Uh, do you think you could shoot it up? You know, with one of your totally awesome star destroyers?”

“If a Chiss ship starts firing on Azeroth, even if it is at some alien, monster sword sucking the life out of the planet, the Empire is going to notice and go bat-shit crazy,” Bellon pointed out. “Besides, how do we know that if we fire at it, it won’t just suck up that energy as well?”

“You have a point,” Luxraina agreed. “But, Billy, you have a very practical mind; and that is your magic. That is why we sent for you. I don’t think there is a magical resolution to this.”

The glow of Arbeth’s bow caught Bellon’s attention. “Tell me about how you stopped the bleeding out?” He nodded at her bow.

“It was Magni’s idea,” Cinnabar said. “We were on an Alliance air ship up around the pommel of the sword with representatives from all the Alliance races and…”

“Alliance?” Bellon asked looking pointedly at the three Horde members.

“We’re _persona non grata_ as far as Sylvanas is concerned because she thinks we helped the Alliance when the Empire made the treaty with Azeroth as a whole and not with her specifically,” Arbeth explained. “Khadgar called us, and we met with this human SI-7 agent; he told us about the situation and sent us to Silithus to talk to one of his sub-agents.”

“Okay, so you were on an Alliance airship with those reps, what happened?” Bellon prompted.

“We all raised our weapons toward Sargeras’ sword and, bodda-bing, instant upgrade,” Torque said. “It hurt like hell, though.”

“Like being stung by a thousand bees,” Arbeth added. “The problem is it was only temporary; but it gave Magni time to come up with a more permanent solution to protect Azeroth from the corruption.”

“Did it go into your bodies?” Bellon asked.

“Not that we could detect,” Luxraina explained. “The energy itself is not corrupted, but it is dark. It was that dark energy our weapons absorbed.”

“I cannot detect any fel magic on any of us, though the sword is rife with it,” Cinnabar added.

Bellon leaned on the table clasping his hands and stared at seemingly nothing. “It’s corrupted; it ate 25 dark lords of the Sith; it was temporarily cleansed by you four and the others; that corruption did not transfer to you.” He tapped his thumbs together.

“It’s working,” Torque intoned softly and smiled.

“Has anyone powerful with the light tried to touch the sword?” Bellon asked after a long silence.

“No one is willing to get near it anymore,” Luxraina said.

“Understandable,” Bellon responded and straightened. “I would like to talk to Khadgar and/or Thrall.”

“You don’t want to go to Thrall; he’s talking Sylvanas off the combative ledge,” Arbeth warned. “Khadgar is in Dark Wind Pass at Medivh’s old stronghold.”

“You can do the calculations and I can make us a portal. Just like old times.” Torque bounced happily in his chair.

“Or, Loa can fly us there.” Bellon patted the table and stood. “I’ll talk to her and Aristroca Prard. The Empire might not be willing to lend a hand; but I think the Ascendancy is very much willing to.” He smiled devilishly. “It is to our advantage. I’ll contact you when we’re ready to move.” He put his helmet back on and left.


	5. Torque in Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loa flies the group in the Raptor from Desolace Space Port to Karazhan; they plan to seek advice from Archmage Khadgar on how to solve the problem with the giant sword sucking the life out of Azeroth. Torque gets to go into space and see his home from hundreds of kilometers up.  
> T9 ensures it is a pleasant trip with all the amenities it's programmed to provide to each and every member of the group.

Bellon had wanted to leave Rena with a nurse at the Consulate. Loa had assured him she would be fine; they were, after all, just visiting a man in a tower. When she arrived at the tavern in the Cantrips and Crows with the baby, there was about a half hour of oh-ing and ah-ing over the little girl, who ate up the attention.

“This one is filled with the light,” Luxraina announced after holding Rena a few moments. “She is strong.” She smiled at Loa and Bellon.

“Are you saying she’s Force sensitive?” Loa asked uncertainly. Force sensitivity was not something Chis parents hoped for.

Cinnabar took the girl and studied her for a bit. “It is hard to say at this point. But the light pulsates within her.”

“Let me hold her,” Torque reached up.

“Not until you wash your hands, and arms, and face, and clothes, with hot water AND soap,” Cinnabar held Rena out of the goblin’s reach.

“And disinfect your mouth,” Arbeth said rapping him on his head. “I thought you didn’t like babies anyway.”

Torque frowned and plopped unhappily onto his chair. “Just wanted to see if I could sense anything. You hurt my feelings.”

“Sheep any one of them and I’ll shoot you,” Bellon said laying his blaster on the table under his hand.

“ _Vesbo_!” Rena shouted pointing at Torque.

“What she say?” Torque asked not sure if he should be offended.

“She says you’re green,” Loa explained. “We’ve been learning our colors.” She took Rena back from the Pandaren.

“If we could get back to the matter at hand; the ship is at the spaceport in Desolace,” Bellon interrupted.

“I’ve been thinking,” Torque began.

“Uh-oh,” Arbeth rolled her eyes. When Bellon scowled at her she smiled. “Do tell, Torque.”

“The Imps will see your ship and track it. Wouldn’t a portal be less obvious?”

Loa smiled. “It’s a Chiss diplomatic ship. Yes, they’ll track it, but as the military liaison, I have permission to go where and when I wish.”

“Oh, okay,” Torque relaxed.

Loa patted his cheek. “Besides, you’ll get to see Azeroth from space.” She laughed when every face lit up at that prospect.

“So how do we,” Arbeth indicated the group, “get to the ship without being seen?”

“That is where the portal comes in,” Bellon announced and plopped a piece of paper down on the table. “Loa will go ahead and prep the ship for launch. We’ll meet her in the landing bay.”

********

Bellon and the group were in the Cantrip and Crows when he got the all-clear for Loa. When the portal was opened, Bellon was the first to step through. “Stand down,” he ordered as the CEDF guards in the dock stared at him through their rifle sights. He had his helmet tucked under his arm.

“Officer on deck,” someone shouted and the whole troop came to attention.

“Come on,” Bellon called back through the portal then told the soldiers to be at ease.

The ramp onto the _Raptor_ lowered, and Loa signaled them from the hatchway.

“Whoa, look at that.” Torque spun around taking in all three ships. “These are bigger than any shuttles we’ve been allowed to see. Except for your ship; it’s small.”

“It’s a fighter-bomber; built for atmospheric maneuverability,” Loa explained hurrying them on board. “The recorders won’t be off line forever.”

“ _Bun’zan’i can le…_ ”

“Basic,” Bellon announced.

Welcome aboard the Chiss Diplomatic Vessel 1492; this is a Jo-Jar long-range military aircraft with all the amenities of home. T9-G5 at your service,” the ship’s droid began as the Azerothians came aboard.

“ _Ticsi_!” Rena took one step, fell to her knees and hared across the floor to her father.

“Strap in, guys,” Bellon said scooping her up.

“ _Vesbo_!” Rena leaned toward Torque.

“Not now, baby. We’re going to watch Mamma fly like a beast.”

“ _Tiscen’i_ b’st!”

“The planned journey will take about five hours. The restrooms are down the gangway on the left. Would anyone like some refreshments?” T9 asked. “Allow me to assist.” It helped everyone strap in. “And you, sir; might I…”

“That is a spider; he doesn’t speak,” Arbeth explained. She made a signal, and Dr. Nope settled at her side chittering.

T9 cocked his head listening. He began chittering back. Dr. Nope chittered some more; T9 chittered; Dr. Nope chittered again.

“Right then, bantha juice for Dr. Nope. And you sir?” T9 looked at Torque.

Everyone stared at T9.

“Lock down, T9,” Bellon called as the engines shuddered to life.

“As you wish, master.” There was a clunking noise from around the droid’s feet. When the ship began to move under the spaceport’s tractor beam, T9 didn’t move. “I shall take your orders if you wish. I will serve as soon as Capt. Shalaya gives the all-clear.”

“Do you have any Thunderhammer ale?” Torque asked.

“I am afraid not, Master Sharpshiv. We have Alderanian wine, quite fruity and light. Bantha milk for anyone who does not partake of alcoholic beverages…”

“I could go for a Rumsey Dark Rum.” Arbeth sighed wistfully.

“Ah, we do have Csepada Kree, very much like rum. As far as brewed items…” T9 went on.

The ship lurched when the tractor beam released the ship and the sub-light engines took over, pushing it up into the stratosphere.

“This is your captain speaking, thank you for flying Space Chiss. The flight will take approximately five hours. We are cruising at 51,000 Kilometers. You are free to move about the cabin,” Loa announced over the ship’s intercom.

T9 immediately released his gravity hooks and headed for the ship’s galley.

“Heh, can I come up there and see space?” Torque asked standing in the entry to the cockpit.

“Yeah, from there,” Bellon pointed at a seat beside Rena’s booster seat.

“ _Vesbo_.” She reached for Torque.

“You know kid, I don’t do babies.” Torque climbed into the indicated seat and stood so he could see the scene on the vid ports. It was dark above and light below. He could see the arc of the edge of Azeroth. “It looks so small from up here. Heh, guys, you gotta see this.”

Soon everyone was crowded into the cockpit behind Loa and Bellon.

“If anyone is interested, I have your refreshments ready,” T9 announced.

That broke the crowd up. The four wandered back into the cabin area where Dr. Nope was happily sucking up a bowl of red juice.

“You actually spoke to him?” Arbeth looked at the droid in amazement.

“I am programmed to converse in over 300 languages; my processor is designed to detect and analyze  phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics so that I might adapt to new languages.” T9 handed her a glass of dark brown liquid. “Csepada Kree, Master Williams.”

Loa and Bellon came into the lounge area, Loa carrying Rena.

“Heh, who’s flying this bucket?” Torque asked in alarm.

Loa narrowed her eyes on him. “She is NOT a bucket. She is a first-generation, top-of-the-line space and atmospheric fighter. She is armed with a laser cannon with a range of 2000 kilometers packing a 4-kiloton punch capable of obliterating any city on Azeroth.” She set Rena down and patted the bulkhead. “Don’t ever call my girl a bucket again!”

“So, who’s flying?” Torque ventured cautiously.

“Auto pilot,” Bellon explained sliding into a seat and pulled up a Dejarik board. Rena reached up and grabbed one of the pieces. It squawked. When Bellon tried to take it from her, she started protesting.

“Ok, grumpy, it’s nap time,” Loa said in Cheuhn and clapping her hands to get the little girl’s attention.


	6. Plans and Machinations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang arrives at Medivh's tower. Karazhan, and brainstorm with Archmage Khadgar. Inspiration comes from a most unlikely source. The group decides they need to find and speak with Prophet Velen.  
> They also learn that the Empire is tracking the movements of The Raptor.

Loa set the ship down in an open area in front of a tower. The terrain had little to no trees and was a rocky, craggy cavern. She was looking straight at the stairway leading up to a large door when a tall, grey-haired male human in robes appeared.

“That is Archmage Khadgar, head of the Kirin Tor. One bad-ass Force user,” Bellon explained in a soft voice as he unstrapped from the navigator’s seat. “Let’s go.” He turned to T9 and ordered the droid to return the ship to its hangar; he would contact T9 when they were ready to leave.

When they stepped off the ship, they were struck by a light, chilly, misting rain.

“Heh, Kaddy, my main man.” Torque hurried toward the tall mage.

“Torque Sharpshiv, nice to see you again.”

Loa’s ears perked at a tone in the older man’s voice. She wasn’t so sure he was as happy to see Torque as Torque was to see him.

“We brought you Billy Dekidt,” Torque announced happily gesturing at Bellon.

“Master Assassin,” Khadgar extended his hand and smiled genuinely at Bellon.

“Archmage, good to see you again. My lifemate.”

“Shalaya’loa’nuruodo, core name Yaloan,” she introduced herself formally. “This is our child, Bellon’rena’theris, corename Onrenath.”

“Or Loa and Rena if you prefer,” Bellon whispered leaning into Khadgar.

“Come inside all of  you.” Khadgar looked up at the sky. “It will soon be pouring rain.” He led them into the tower and a richly appointed area with stuffed chairs and sofas and a roaring fire.

“I understand you’ve been consulting Medivh’s library. Any luck?” Bellon asked once everyone was seated.

Much to Loa’s dismay, Dr. Nope took up residence between her and Bellon.

Khadgar smiled. “Barely a dent; but now that all of you are here, we can make better time.” He leaned over and picked up Rena, who had crawled to him. “My, but you will be strong.”

“Strong how?” Loa was definitely not sure if his pronouncement was a good thing or a bad thing. The last thing she wanted was a Sith getting wind of her daughter being Force sensitive.

“We shall see, dear lady.” He bounced the little girl in his arms. “You will show your gifts when you are good and ready. It took your daddy 24 years.”

“Perhaps you can shed some light on why the sword ate 25 Sith and did not eat any of these four?” Bellon asked.

“All I can attribute it to is the fact that those Sith were full of dark energy and the sword feeds on dark energy. They are not.” Khadgar said gesturing to Bellon’s four friends. “Also, the Sith physically touched the blade.”

“I came to the same conclusion,” Bellon agreed.

“So, 25 Jedi might be able to touch and damage the sword,” Loa suggested.

“Yeah, like the Empire is going to allow us to bring in 25 Jedi masters to Azeroth.” Bellon snorted. “No, we would need 25…”

“Paladins,” Lux finished.

“No, no, no!” Cinnabar announced emphatically. “We are not taking the chance of losing 25 paladins to that thing just to prove a theory.”

“No, we aren’t.” Bellon and Khadgar responded simultaneously.

“We first need to do more research,” Khadgar explained. “Where the sword initially came from; who or what imbued it with what powers; how it is doing what it is doing.”

“Lux, you said Sargeras wanted to destroy Azeroth’s world soul before it could be corrupted. What if it has already been corrupted? What if the sword is actually cleansing Azeroth’s soul?” Bellon asked.

“No, Magni Bronzebeard has been in communication with Azeroth; he says she is crying in pain at the infusion of fel corruption,” Khadgar explained.

“Quite paradoxical; Sargeras wanted to keep Azeroth’s soul from being corrupted and in his zeal has corrupted her soul,” Loa said. “Why is Azeroth a she?”

“She gives us life,” Luxraina explained then chuckled. “A man isn’t associated with nurturing.”

“That’s unfair,” Bellon pouted. “I think I’m very nurturing.”

“You are, dear,” Loa assured him with a kiss on his cheek.

“What about me?” Torque asked.

“You are nurturing too, in a different way,” Cinnabar explained diplomatically.

“Yeah, you nurture hangovers.” Arbeth snorted a laugh.

Khadgar suddenly looked confused and turned to look at the little girl in his arms.

“Is something wrong? Does she need her diaper changed?” Loa asked reaching for her daughter.

“No, no, it’s just that…” the mage shook his head. “It’s just an old man going dotty in his later years.” He stood. “Let’s get back to work; we have thousands of scrolls and books spanning thousands of years to go through.” He wouldn’t hand Rena back to Loa as he led them up a set of stairs winding along the outer wall of the tower.

Two levels above opened into a three-story hall where the walls were lined with bookcases and repositories. Every few levels of shelves had walkways with ladders leading between them. The top third and ceiling were all glass, flooding the area with natural light. In the center of the room was a large, empty, damaged cistern.

“I have gotten this far.” Khadgar indicated from the door to about one-quarter of the way around the first level. “Pick a spot and get to work.”

“I’ll take Rena, you six know what you’re looking for,” Loa said taking the baby.

“The kitchen is in the basement; the sleeping chambers are the level below,” Khadgar explained and pulled out a book. He didn’t hear Loa expressing dismay but was aware of something pulling the hem of his robe. He looked down to see the little girl pulling herself up and looking up at him. He set the book down and picked her up again. “What is it, little one?”

She leaned in touching her forehead to him. “Dadda?” she said softly.

Khadgar gave a start, his eyes popping wide open. He hurriedly set Rena back down and began eyeing the spines of all the books and tab-ends of scrolls. He was up on the third level when he pulled a scroll off the shelf; he muttered something in Thalassian and looked down at the child, now playing with a rock in the middle of the empty cistern.

“What is it?” Bellon asked noticing the direction of the archmage’s stare.

“Your child… I believe she has led me to our first clue.” Khadgar climbed down the ladders and went to a table near the cistern. Everyone hurried to his side. The scroll he held was very old - papyrus glued and handstitched together - and brittle. He cleared the surface of the table and gently rolled the scroll out.

“What’s it say?” Arbeth asked looking at the strange figures.

“It states that when Sargeras fell to his madness, his great sword, Gorshalch split in two. Sargeras claimed one half and reforged it into Gorribal, which has now impaled Azeroth. Aggramar took the other half and reforged it into Taeshalach.” He smiled at the group. “It says that if a non-evil being were to reforge both halves together again, Gorshalch could be reformed.”

“So-o-o, how does that help us?” Torque asked.

“Even if we were to find the other half of Gorshalch, no one we know is BIG enough to reform the two and remove the blade from Azeroth,” Bellon pointed out.

“Rena told you that?” Loa held her daughter protectively.

Khadgar touched the little girl’s pudgy cheek. “No, she told me about the scroll.”

Bellon snatched her up and spun around. “Who’s my smartest little girl?” He tweaked her nose. “You are; you’re my smart little girl. No dating. No boys are worthy of you.”

“Billy, she’s only five months old!” Arbeth rolled her eyes and looked back down at the scroll. “Well this gives us a what to do but not a how to do it.”

Bellon smiled. “Azeroth is big enough to wield Gorshalch.”

“What?” Khadgar looked at him then smiled. “You’re right.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Are you suggesting that we find Taeshalach; impale it next to Gorribal and HOPE Azeroth can forge them into Gorshalch?” Torque stared at the two. “That is beyond insane; that idea is… is…”

“Out of this world,” Loa finished.

“One hitch,” Luxraina held up her cloven hoof. “Aggramar was on Argus. Argus was destroyed. Ergo, to wit, _ipso facto_ that means Taeshalach was also destroyed.”

“Not necessarily,” Khadgar said. “I was there when Aggramar was defeated. He did NOT have Taeshalach at that time.”

“So where is Taeshalach?” Bellon asked holding Rena close.

“ _Ticsi_!” She rocked forward clonking her head against him. The sudden pain sent her into paroxysms of tears.

Bellon staggered as his vision doubled. Someone was taking Rena while someone else eased him into a chair. “Why do babies do that?” he wailed holding his head in the hopes it would stop spinning.

********

Bellon was in one of the bedrooms, lying on a divan with ice to his head. Rena was asleep on a large bed. Loa sat near a fire reading one of the books from the library. Everyone else was up in the library looking for more information or Gorribal, Taeshalach, and Gorshalch.

Bellon suddenly sat up his eyes wide. “We have company, Sith. Get Khadgar,” he told Loa.

She hurried out and quickly returned. When she came back with the archmage, Bellon explained that there was a Sith in the very immediate vicinity.

Khadgar frowned. “Be at peace, the doors are warded. No one can get in without my releasing the ward. I’ll go see what this visitor wants.”

He left them and trotted down to the first level. He could hear someone rattling the doors trying to open them. He waited a moment then flung the door open to be face to face with a woman in red robes. He saw the startled expression at his sudden appearance before she quickly masked it.

“May I help you?” He asked blocking entry.

“I am Lord Frenzen,” she announced pretentiously and glaring at Khadgar.

“I am Archmage Khadgar. I don’t often get visitors. What brings you here?” He didn’t move; he didn’t cower; he didn’t change his impassive tone.

“We have evidence that you had a visitor recently; a Chiss ship was noted as traveling to this location.”

“If you were tracking it, you would know it left very soon after. I like my privacy.” He glared at her.

Frenzen ignored the uncomfortable feeling that this person had Force strength that far outmatched her. “Who was it and what did he want?” She demanded. She saw a slight smile curl one side of his mouth.

Khadgar heard the fear in the Sith’s voice. “I don’t see that as any of your business. My business is mine alone.”

“The Chiss are citizens of the Empire, as are you.” She narrowed her eyes.

Khadgar leaned over putting his face in hers; his eyes burned. “You are here by MY largess. You are no more than a guest on Azeroth. One word from me and you and your cronies will be gone from my home planet.”

Frenzen leaned away, not from his proximity but from the power emanating off him. She involuntarily gulped.

Once Khadgar decided she understood her precarious situation, he straightened. “If you must sate your curiosity, one of the Chiss diplomats indicated they had picked up peculiar readings as they entered the atmosphere. They were referred to me. I could not identify their readings, so they left. However, since then the Ogres in the next crevasse have become very agitated. They might know something. Why don’t you ask them?” He threw helpfulness into his tone.

Frenzen groaned with exasperation. “How do I get there?” she asked.

“Follow that path back about one mile and go right. Take the first right you come to. They are down that path; you can’t miss them. Now go, I have work to do.” Khadgar slammed the door but waited until he was sure the Sith was gone.

“Ogres! You sent her into a den of Ogres?” Bellon rolled his eyes. “You can be cruel.”

“Yeah, what did Ogres ever do to offend you?” Torque asked.

Khadgar just chuckled. He was beginning to understand Bellon’s dislike for the Sith.

********

The group had spent the last two days scouring the library for any hints as to the location of the other half of Gorshalch. They sat around a table staring at their meal.

“The Draenei were originally from Argus. Maybe they know something.” Cinnabar said with an exasperated sigh.

“If they knew something, I should think they would have retrieved Taeshalach,” Luxraina said equally exasperated.

“We’ve been through this conversation five times,” Torque rolled his eyes. “It hasn’t gotten us anywhere before; I don’t see it getting us anywhere now.”

“And you nurture defeatism,” Arbeth said, seemingly _apropos_ of nothing.

“When your mind spins back to the same subject, there is something important there,” Khadgar said poking at the steamed beans on his plate.

“ _Tta_!” Rena announced slapping her tray; she opened her mouth for more.

Khadgar straightened as all the candles in the room went completely out then came back on.

“Have we gone through all your resource material on the Draenei?” Loa asked feeding ground meat to her daughter.

“Why don’t we just ask Prophet Velen?” Luxraina asked sitting up as the thought struck.

“So simple, we didn’t think of that,” Bellon smiled at her. “Okay, so where do we find Velen?” He looked expectantly at all the blank faces. “Well, don’t everyone chime in at once. Come on, how could he have vanished? That’s like Khadgar vanishing! Oh, yeah, never mind.” He looked over at the archmage. “So, any thoughts where to start looking?”

“The Outlands?” Torque suggested. “The _Exodar_?” Luxraina offered. “The vast expanse of interstellar space?” the last was from Loa.

“I would suggest you start at the _Exodar_ ,” Khadgar said.

“What is the _Exodar_?” Bellon asked.

“That is the ship that carried the Draenei from Draenor and crashed on Azuremist Isle southwest of Darnassus,” Cinnabar explained.

“Darnassus, the home of the Night Elves and Tyrande Whisperwind and Malfurion Stormrage? Let’s just waltz right in there and hope their guards don’t think we’re enemies raiding the Elven World Tree.” Arbeth threw her hands in the air.

“Now who’s being negative?” Torque asked smugly.

“Aren’t the Night Elves friends with the Worgen? Does King Greymane still look upon the five of us as friendly to his cause? The Lady Tyrande MUST know of the deeds we accomplished for Azeroth, not just the Horde,” Bellon reminded the group.

“Exactly,” Khadgar agreed. “Give me a few to let her know that I’m sending you to her; she can greet you at a neutral location, perhaps Moonglade, and advise you forward from there.” He left the table.

“Is the only hungry one at the table the baby?” Loa asked slightly irritated.


	7. In Search of Velen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our intrepid adventurers set out to find the Draenei, Prophet Velen. They are the head of a little train that includes Sith and a Republic strike team. Little Rena starts to show that she's more than just a cute, chubby baby, much to her parents' consternation and Archmage Torque Sharpshiv's alarm.  
> The search becomes a scavenger hunt and begins to wear on peoples nerves.

Loa lowered the _Raptor_ into a large lake; readings indicated the lake was no more than two meters deep and it was the only open area. The rest of Moonglade was thickly forested. When the ship settled on its landing struts, Loa noted she was correct; the belly of the vessel was about a half a meter above the water. She extended the landing ramp toward the shore.

Cinnabar led the group off and greeted the female elf waiting for them.

“ _Tost’oso_?” Rena pointed at the violet-skinned, blue-haired Night Elf in robes of state.

Loa assured her she was correct.

“What did she say?” Torque asked.

“Purple,” Loa explained.

“Yeah, she’s purple… ish. More of a pale mauve.”

“Shut it, Torque,” Bellon ordered striding past the two and approaching the leader of the Night Elves.

“Ah, you must be the infamous Billy Dekidt I’ve heard so much about,” Tyrande greeted him offering her hand.

Bellon took it and bowed. “My Lady Whisperwind. I am grateful for your taking this time to meet with us.”

She took in the odd group. “You brought a baby?” There was a tinge of disapproval in her voice.

“Chiss children mature much more rapidly than those of other species,” Loa answered with a tinge of annoyance. “Besides, it was this baby who put us on this course of action.”

“So Khadgar indicated,” Tyrande turned back to Bellon. “So, what is your question?”

“Where can we find Prophet Velen?” Cinnabar came right to the point.

“Oh, well, last I heard he was in Silithus,” Tyrande said.

“We just came from there; he ain’t there,” Torque said.

“My lady, their… thing is polluting our lake,” one of the druids nearby said as an aside that was meant for them to hear.

Loa raised her eyebrows. “How is it polluting?” She turned to look at the ship then back at the elf druid. “It is not leaking any fluids; I checked that myself before departing Karazhan. It is clean except for some dust perhaps; that I also checked before departure.” She narrowed her eyes on the speaker, who was beginning to retreat. “Are you suggesting I am a negligent pilot?” The last was an open challenge.

“Uh, er, no, my lady, I… just… I’m sure everything is fine,” he hurried off.

“If you cannot answer our question as to the whereabouts of Prophet Velen, I ask for your mark of writ to allow us to travel to the _Exodar_ and inquire of his fellow Draenei,” Loa announced with frustrated finality.

“I shall go with you and vouch for you,” a tall, blue, Draenei stepped forward. “Your cause is worthy, and I too would see Azeroth cleansed of the taint caused by the Sword of Sargeras.”

“Good. Back on the ship everyone. Let’s blow this popsicle joint.” Loa strode back up the ramp followed by the Draenei.

“Well, okay then. Thank you, Lady Whisperwind.” Bellon turned and followed.

Torque looked up at the now cross Night Elf and back at his retreating friends. “Uh, bye.” He ran after them.

Bellon recognized Loa was angry. “You are not a diplomat,” he quipped then touched her cheek. “Come on, Loa, it wasn’t that bad.”

“They insulted me; they insulted my ship, my baby,” she handed Rena to T9 and leaned against the _Raptor’s_ bulkhead. “Don’t listen to those nasty elves, you aren’t a dirty and leaky girl, are you?” She patted the metallic wall before heading into the cockpit. “Maybe I should dump the holding tanks as we’re taking off.”

“No, no, no, no,” Bellon reacted. “No, we pump them out per regulation 40-29.A.1 when we reach the space port.”

She stopped in her tracks, gave him a haughty look. “THAT is an Imperial regulation. I am Chiss. Strap in everyone; we’re outta here,” she called in a sudden switch to basic.

“She is not a happy lady,” Torque observed leaning against one of Bellon’s legs.

“Not wise to insult her professionalism,” Bellon answered and followed her to the cockpit.

His sudden movement left Torque falling over. He recovered and turned to face the Draenei. “Hi, I’m Torque; who are you?”

“Shevan,” the Draenei responded.

********

“Master Shan.” The Havoc squad commander, Major Kizhe, drew everyone’s attention to a bright streak in the sky.

Capt. Jorgan quickly pulled out his binoculars and examined the streak. “That’s a Jo-Jar long-range Chiss military aircraft.”

SIS agent Theron Shan quickly pulled out his binoculars as well. “10 to 1 that is Cipher 9. Where’s he headed?”

Sgt. Elara Dorn opened a map. “Looks like they came from the direction of the area called Moonglade and are headed for… Azuremist Isle. I thought Cipher 9 was back on Dromund Kaas.”

“What the hell’s in those two places?” Cpl. Tanno Vik, a towering Weequay asked.

Theron tucked his glasses back into the backpack. “To Tanno’s question, we need to find out. To Elara’s question, and this is highly classified need-to-know only, Cipher 9, aka Bellon’dfrey’theris, aka Billy Dekidt never made it back to Dromund Kaas after his last assignment here.”

“Well, he’s dead,” Dorn announced. She had defected from the Empire and new their tactics too well.

“Nope,” Theron said.

“Theron,” Satele growled in a maternal warning.

Theron rolled his eyes. “Also, highly classified, he somehow escaped Darth Vowrawn’s and Keeper’s efforts to get him back to Dromund Kaas to face a court martial for insubordination. He returned to the Chiss Ascendancy.”

“What makes you think he’s in that ship?” Satele asked.

“My gut!” When everyone gave him a blank look he explained. “He married the niece of General Avath’eal’nuruodo the supreme commander of the Chiss Defense Expeditionary Force or CDEF.”

Elara gave a low whistle. “He married well.”

“AND,” Theron held up a finger, “General Thealn’s wife is on the consulate staff here.”

“If he’s here, something big is happening, and there’s a very good chance it is not of benefit to the Empire.” Satele glanced up at the vanishing contrail.

“Why do you say that?” Loraz Pazel, towering human Jedi, asked.

“Major Bellon, he never uses his core name, hates Sith,” Theron said. “He holds them responsible for the death of his parents and sister.”

Dorn worked the core name out in her head. “Ondfreth would be a mouthful for anyone. I heard about his family,” she suddenly recognized the reference. “His father was involved in…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Vik interrupted.

“Shut it corporal,” Capt. Jorgan snarled, his amber Cathar eye boring into Vik. “Please continue, sergeant.”

Dorn told how Bellon senior had been a member of the Imperial army and his unit used by a Sith in a personal vendetta during the first war with the republic. She explained the Sith could face the death sentence for that and saw to it everyone in the unit and any family member that might know the truth were murdered. She also explained how Bellon’s sister was dragged off to Korriban because someone decided she was Force sensitive; she didn’t survive the experience.

“Is sad; much grief that gentle being must have.” Yuun, a Gand, said.

“One thing Major Bellon is not is gentle,” Theron pointed out.

“You sound like you know him personally,” Jorgan said.

“I met him when he was passing himself off as a republic privateer by the name of Capt. Billy Dekidt. He’d slit your throat as soon as look at you. If you meet him and come out of the experience alive, it’s because he needs you for something.” Theron crossed his arms over his chest in finality.

“I have met him as well,” Satele said eying her estranged son. “He is not as bad as you say. I found him to be honorable, a man of his word.”

“Something else you and I will never agree on,” Theron mumbled.

“This is a very enlightening discussion but isn’t getting us the answers we need.” Kizhe stepped between the two Shans. “I think we should get to Azuremist Isle, if that is in fact where the Chiss went, and find out what they are up to.” She slung her back pack on, mounted her griffin, and launched off in the direction the ship had gone.

The others followed suit.

The 8-man team had been equipped with local clothing and weapons. They had been deposited on the planet in a dessert far to the south away from any prying eyes; the Havoc squad droid, M1-4X, took the ship back to republic space.

They found a small village where they were able to purchase the griffins and backpacks they now used. Their blasters and lightsabers were safely tucked out of sight in the backpacks. The five members of Havoc squad were dressed in scale or chain armor and carried knives and light bowcasters made to look like crossbows. The helms hid the faces of the non-humans. The other three wore leather armor and carried rapiers or knives.

********

This time the ship landed in a clearing near the conjunction of three lakes not far from the crashed space ship. Loa leaned on the console staring at the ship through the vid ports. “What caused that to crash?”

“The _Exodar’s_ engines were sabotaged by a traitor, Sironas,” the Draenei explained.

“That’ll do it.” Loa pushed herself off the console and headed into the cabin area. “T9 you are authorized to use deadly force to protect the _Raptor_.”

“But…”

“DO IT!” She took a blaster out of the armory cabinet and stuck it in the droid’s hand. She spoke in a low tone and indicated the original group, “If someone who is not one of us six, tries to even touch this vessel, you will kill them, per order AC95721.”

“Yes captain.”

She followed the others off the ship. Shevan led the way, followed by Luxraina and Cinnabar. Loa and Bellon brought up the rear with Rena in Bellon’s arms.

“What are you worried about?” he asked her in Cheunh. He could feel the tension in her and had heard the order to T9.

“That Draenei said one of their own sabotaged the _Exodar’s_ engines. I do not want that happening to the _Raptor_.” Her eyes were fixed on their guide. She pulled down the visor of her flight helmet as they stepped onto a dirt road leading to the _Exodar_.

Bellon put his helmet on to hide his face and piggy-backed Rena on his shoulders. This worked fine for a bit until she started using the metal headgear as a drum. Loa’s flight helmet was fitted with noise suppression and well cushioned. Not so much his iron helmet.

He stopped, lowered Rena to the ground, and took off the helmet until his ears stopped ringing. Rena pushed herself onto her legs and took off at a right angle from the direction of the group.

“Dfrey, look, she’s walking!” Loa was so excited and hurried after her now toddler. She cried out at a roar and a movement.

A nightstalker lept out of hiding and lunged toward Rena.

“ _Busc’_!” The Rena shouted as she clapped her hands. The creature fell to the ground, asleep. Rena toddled on unsteady legs to the creature and began petting its fur. Cooing happily, she smiled up at Loa. “ _Vit-vit_.”

Everyone was staring.

“What the hell just happened?” Torque asked his eyes nearly bugging out of his head.

“I don’t know; Arbeth?” Bellon looked at the hunter.

“It wasn’t me. Lux? Cin?” Arbeth asked. “Did you do something?” she asked the Draenei. Shevan shook his head, his expression as stunned as everyone else’s.

“She’s not even one year old. No child has ever shown any magical ability before at least four or five years and then only rudimentary,” Torque advanced cautiously toward the little girl and the sleeping creature.

“Let’s not play with that thing. Okay?” Loa scooped Rena up and backed away not sure if the beast would wake up.

“Torque, can you tell what she did?” Bellon asked. He had unshouldered his rifle and kept it trained on the animal.

Torque straightened and in a frantic rush said, “A sleep spell, I need to talk to Khadgar.” He immediately made a portal with Karazhan visible in the distance. “Don’t leave here without me.” He stepped through.

“We have a prophet to find,” Luxraina reminded everyone. “Let the beast sleep it off.”

Everyone hurried off except Bellon. He backed away keeping his rifle trained on the creature. It wasn’t until it was out of sight that he turned and jogged to catch up with the others.

Shevan had watched the exchange with interest; he wasn’t sure who had cast the spell on the cat but knew the others seemed to be attributing it to the baby. That was impossible. He led them through an arched piece of wreckage, acting as a gate to the environs immediately around the _Exodar_. They crossed a manicured area and entered the ship through an exterior hatch.

Bellon recognized that it had probably been the airlock for docking ships when it was in space. The crash had driven the ship into the ground kicking up rocks on the far side. He guessed a good two-thirds was now underground. During the trauma of entry into the atmosphere and from the impact, pieces of the ship had been sheared off and were now scattered across the island.

“She’s lucky she’s not a pile of slag,” he noted to Loa.

“Says something about how well she was built,” Loa responded impressed.

The former airlock opened onto a gangway that led down and around following the bulkhead. The floor and walls were buckled and broken in places, and they had to step over cracks or avoid gaping holes. The gangway opened into a wide central chamber dominated by a pulsating light. They were met by a soothing chiming.

“I’d heard of this place but never seen it,” Bellon admitted softly. There was something about the place that made it that seem excessive noise would be considered disrespectful.

“What is that chiming I hear?” Loa asked.

“That’s the Naaru,” Cinnabar explained.

Shevan led them toward one of three side areas; inside the second hall were holos of different types of Burning Legion creatures. Their guide approached a female Draenei and spoke to her. She nodded and apparently sent him on his way. She approached the group.

Cinnabar introduced the them.

“I have heard of you; and you as well Master Dekidt. I am Exarch Yrel; Shevan said you are seeking Prophet Velen. Is it something I might help you with?”

“We are looking for Taeshalach,” Bellon explained. “We think we know a way to heal the wound to Azeroth caused by Gorribal.” He noticed her almost imperceptible reaction of shock to the mention of the pieces of the broken Sword of Sargeras.

“Taeshalach cannot help you,” Yrel said with surety. “It is corrupted and corrupts all who touch it.” There was a tinge of fear in her tone, however.

“Two negatives equal a positive,” Bellon suggested gently hoping to ease her fear.

“This is not a matter of logic or math,” she retorted. “This is a matter of fel corruption and the evil influence of the Twisted Nether”

“If it is reunited with Gorribal, Gorshalch can be reforged,” he explained.

She wasn’t afraid, she was terrified. “All who touch it are corrupted. This course is madness.” Yrel battled to calm her nerves. This group might have done a lot to help Azeroth but half of them were members of the Horde. She didn’t want to think what Taeshalach could do in the hands of Sylvanas Windrunner.

“Be that as it may,” Luxraina stepped in. “Might you tell us where we can find Prophet Velen so that we might consult with him?”

Yrel now wanted more than anything for this group to go away. “He is in Pandaria, consulting with the Shado-pan. I don’t know how he will help or if he will. Taeshalach was destroyed when Argus was destroyed.”

“If it was destroyed, why does the mention of it terrify you?” Bellon asked point blank.

She gave him a sharp look. “Velen is in Pandaria. Go talk to him for all the good it will do.” She spun on her heals and marched off.

“We really touched a nerve with her,” Loa commented. “Let’s get back to the ship.”

“First, I’d like to talk to the Naaru.” Cinnabar set off purposefully out toward the central chamber.

They returned to the central chamber and continued down along a ramp, which angled down and ended in a glass-bottomed, open chamber. The crushed engines could be seen on the bottom level of the _Exodar_. The soothing chime they had been hearing was louder here. They looked up to see a figure of energy hovering above them in the center of the hall.

“Welcome to the Seat of the Naaru; I am A’dal, friend of Khadgar. Why have you come?” the chiming took form as words heard in their heads. “You are distressed.”

Cinnabar approached the Naaru and spoke. “A’dal, we believe we have found a way to cure Azeroth of the wound caused by Gorribal.”

“I sensed as much; the littlest one told me.”

Rena squeaked happily and bounced in her father’s arms.

“You seek Taeshalach. I do not know where that sword is, but I can confirm that it still exists and is on Azeroth. I know your plan and sense that it is a successful one, though Azeroth must first be healed of the corruption Gorribal is causing. Prophet Velen should know where to start looking for Taeshalach; you will find him at Kun Lai summit in Pandaria. Go, save Azeroth.”

Rena cooed.

“Good bye, little one.”

“Bye-bye.” Rena waved at the Naaru.

“Let’s get back to the ship and wait for Torque,” Loa urged. “I need to plot our course and I don’t have any information on Pandaria in my Navi-computer.”

“You seem upset,” Arbeth noted of Loa once they were back outside the _Exodar_. “It’s Rena isn’t it.

“She’s just a baby, a child; everyone here is treating her like she’s the coming of salvation,” Loa spun on the group. “She’s just a baby.”

Bellon pushed Rena into Loa’s arms and hugged them both. “She’s a baby with a gift. One we need to hide from the Sith and Jedi; but not from Azeroth and not from the Families.”

Loa as crying into his shoulder. “If… if these people can sense it, how will we hide her from the S-Sith?”

“Something tells me, she will not allow herself to be used by anyone.” Luxraina rest her manual hoof on Loa’s shoulder. “She is her daddy’s child.”

“And we all know how he bamboozled the Sith,” Arbeth said quite cheerfully.

They returned to the ship, Loa being extremely protective of her precocious child.

Several hours later, Torque banged on the hull of the ship.

“Where’d you go?” Bellon demanded.

“I went to talk to Khadgar. Where’s the little girl?”

“Asleep.” Loa crossed her arms over her chest and glared down at the goblin. “Why do you want to know?”

“Cin, Lux, can either of you cast a spell to protect her from detection by the Fel?” Torque asked.

“What’s going on!” Bellon demanded.

“Khadgar said because she’s so little, she might be susceptible to corruption. We defeated Sargeras and the Burning Legion; but there are still dark forces out there who would love to control someone showing so much power so young,” Torque explained. “We have to… shield her; hide her from them.”

“We were talking about that earlier,” Arbeth noted.

“Do it!” Bellon ordered the paladin and priestess. “Do it now.”

The two nodded and disappeared into the cabin where Rena slept.


	8. The Shado-Pan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, Velen wasn't there so our intrepid gang has to look someplace else. This leads them to Pandaria and the Kun Lai Summit. Dr. Nope gets hungry and helps himself to some Sith. Bellon learns a little more about his short, green buddy, and wishes he hadn't. He also, almost learns a new song.

Bellon had used his maps to plot the course from the _Exodar_ to Kun Lai Summit in Pandaria. The ship landed on a snow-covered plateau about five kilometers from the Shado-pan Monastery.

“I’m staying here with Rena,” Loa announced. “Is she protected?”

“Yes,” Luxraina answered simply. “Lock the hatch and let no one in until we return.”

“That’s what I fully intend,” Loa said gritting her teeth.

“I’ll leave Dr. Nope with you,” Arbeth said. “He’s good in a fight and I’ll feel better knowing he’s here.”

Loa looked uncertainly at the giant spider lounging comfortably on the cabin carpet. “Is there anything special I need to do for him?” she asked cautiously.

“No,” Arbeth said. “He can sense the approach of people and will react with agitation if it isn’t someone he knows, or he dislikes. Oh, if he starts dancing at the door, he’s hungry or has to shit. Better let him out.”

“Did Khadgar have any advice regarding what to do with Rena?” Bellon asked Torque after they were walking down a path leading to the monastery.

“Nothing more than to start training her to control it as soon as you can,” Torque answered glancing back at the ship.

“How old were you when you started showing signs of being adept at magic?” Bellon asked.

“I was seven when I got a hold of a scroll and activated it.”

“What was the scroll,” Bellon asked sensing a very Torque-like story.

“Imp summoning; or I should say Imps, plural. A mage was visiting our school; he had a bunch of scrolls just to show us; he didn’t intend to use them. I snitched one when he turned his back and during lunch read it. Needless to say, the next day I was on my way to his home to be trained. My school I think was glad to see me go. It took them weeks to clean up the mess in the lunchroom and find all the imps.” Torque grinned up at Bellon.

“Was anyone in your family mages?” Bellon asked.

“Nope; they were completely surprised and none too happy. Pops was hoping I’d follow him in the family business.”

“Which was?” Bellon asked knowing he was going to be sorry he asked.

“Protection, banking, lending, laundering, extor…

“I get the point,” Bellon cut him off. “You’re in a better place, little buddy.”

“You called me little buddy and you haven’t threatened to kill me. You really do love me,” Torque quipped.

“Don’t push it; the operation is still young.” Bellon narrowed his eyes on Torque.

“You know, I could teach little Rena a thing or two,” Torque suggested.

Bellon heard just a bit too much eagerness in the Goblin’s tone. “Don’t hold your breath for me to okay that idea.”

“Billy won’t let me teach his daughter,” Torque announced to the group.

“What would you teach her, all 47 verses of the Girl from Wusty?” Arbeth asked.

“I don’t think I’ve heard that one,” Bellon said cautiously.

“There are a lot of words that rhyme with ‘Wusty’. Each verse focuses on a different word,” Luxraina said.

“There was a girl from Wusty, and folks said she was lusty, but…”

Bellon clapped hand over Torque’s mouth and rolled his eyes. “Cinnabar, tell me about the Shado-pan; who are they?”

“They are monks and protectors,” she explained. “They go back to when the Mogu ruled Pandaria and enslaved us. The monks learned the art of weaponless combat as we were not allowed weapons. It was under their leadership that Pandarens revolted and overthrew our Mogu overseers. They still protect Pandaria.”

“Why might Prophet Velen have come to see them?” Arbeth asked.

Cinnabar shrugged. “Pandaria has been dealing with the Shas for centuries. Perhaps it has something to do with that. If one is going to learn to control one’s emotions, the Shado Pan are the Pandarens to talk to.”

“What are Shas?” Torque asked.

“They are the manifestations of negative emotions: doubt, despair, violence, anger, hatred, fear, and pride. The Shado-pan meditate to learn to curb their negative emotions; actually, all Pandarens are taught to do that, even those of us born and raised on the Wandering Isle,” Cinnabar said. “It might be very useful for all of you to learn such meditations,” she said glancing at the others.

“What about positive emotions? Are there Shas for love, joy, etc.?” Bellon asked.

“The Last Emperor did not bury those emotions,” Cinnabar explained.

The trail from the plateau leveled out about one-half kilometer from the entry into the monastery. Four Pandarens in matching blue-and-red, padded-leather armor and armed with curved-bladed short swords stood guard on the portico.

Cinnabar walked up, bowed and spoke in Pandaren. “Taran Zhu, Lord of the Shado-pan will meet with us,” she told the rest after a short conversation. “We must leave our weapons at the door.” She explained what that meant.

The two guards nearest the large double doors opened them to allow the group to enter. There was an alcove just inside the door with a uniformed Shado-pan monk at the counter. Behind him was a small array of weapons. Bellon handed over his sniper rifle and blaster. Torque reluctantly gave up his staff and Arbeth her bow. Cinnabar and Luxraina seemed more comfortable leaving their weapons here.

Another monk led them through into a courtyard. Bellon’s communicator beeped.

“Dfrey, you need to get back here, quickly,” Loa was frantic.

“What happened?” He asked ready to shift directions and run back.

“That spider is eating a Sith.”

Bellon froze. “Explain.”

“This Sith appeared, she was alone. I didn’t know about her and thought the spider had to… you know, do its business or something. Next thing I know I hear a scream, this Sith is unconscious and…” Loa shuddered.

“You sure it was a Sith?”

The others didn’t understand what he was saying but recognized the word “Sith.” They watched the exchange.

The visual on the communicator swung around to show Dr. Nope through a vid-port squatting over a prone form, happily sucking out bodily fluids.

“I guess he was hungry,” Bellon suggested not too concerned.

“What’s he eating?” Arbeth asked.

He switched to basic. “A Sith. Loa, when Dr. Nope has sated his hunger, keep the body handy. I’ll check it out when I get back. In the meantime, don’t worry about it.”

Loa looked worried. “How did a Sith know where to find us? I bet it was that Shevan person. I didn’t trust him.” Loa’s glaring face was dominating the communicator visuals.

“Dr. Nope didn’t like him either,” Arbeth added. “Let him be for now but don’t let him stay out in the cold; it’s not good for him.”

“But he's eating a sentient being?” Loa shuddered.

“He’s a spider, honey; it’s what he does. He likes you and Rena; he’s no threat to you,” Bellon assured. “I gotta go; we’re going to meet with the head of the monastery. Keep an eye on Dr. Nope to ensure he doesn’t get sick from the taint.”

Loa nodded. “Roger, out.” The communicator shut off.

“Remind me to give Dr. Nope a big hug when we get back,” Torque said. “Ate a Sith! Good for him.”

“Sick from the taint?” Arbeth asked with alarm.

“The Dark-side taint.” Bellon shrugged. “I have no idea if it will affect him.”

*******

The meeting with Taran Zhu was anticlimactic. Prophet Velen had been there learning the meditation techniques of the Shado-pan then left. He believed he was headed for the White Tiger Temple.

They returned to the ship. Bellon and Luxraina found the body of the Sith dressed in black, silver, and red robes. “That’s a Sith alright. How did she find us?” He indicated the evidence of dark-side taint in the woman’s face then looked around. “How did she get here?”

“A portal,” Luxraina suggested.

“Torque,” Bellon called the goblin over. “Can you tell if a portal was made recently, within the past few hours?”

“I can try; there should be a little magical residue.” He set out walking in an ever-widening circle around the ship.

In the meantime, Bellon and Luxraina studied the body and rifled through the Sith’s robes.

“Dr. Nope did this, there’s no doubt,” Luxraina said pointing at a puncture wound in the woman’s back where Dr. Nope injected her with his paralyzing venom.

Bellon rocked back on his heels not finding anything useful; he had hoped she might have some orders from someone. “She’ll be missed. If she knew we were coming here, others know and why. The Monastery monks know where we’re going and have no reason not to share that information.”

“Do you think it was Shevan who told her?” Luxraina asked.

Bellon shrugged. “It could be anyone we’ve talked to. They all know we’re looking for Taeshalach and Velen. All they have to do is ask the same questions and where we went.”

“How do we lose them?” the Tauren asked.

Bellon straightened and stretched his back. “We could just kidnap everyone we talk to; but I don’t think that will go over well. Let’s get to Velen before the Sith do.” He headed into the ship. “How is he?” he asked Arbeth, who was checking over Dr. Nope.

“He’s fine, no apparent adverse effects. Where’s Torque?” the hunter asked.

“Running back,” Loa said pointing out the cockpit vid port.

“I found a little ship,” Torque reported breathlessly.

“Stay here,” Bellon ordered Loa and took off running in the direction Torque had come. Luxraina and Arbeth followed.

Torque collapsed in a chair gulping down air. “I’ll… stay… with… you two.” He waved a finger vaguely at Loa and Cinnabar.

About a mile off, the three found a single-seat speeder. Without touching it, Bellon inspected the exterior thoroughly. He then removed the engine cowling, then the seat, then the handle grips. He held up a small blinking item. “A tracker. We’ll take this with us.” He released the brakes and began pushing the speeder back to the ship.

“Dfrey,” Loa said worried when he brought the speeder with imperial markings on board.

“It’s clean; or will be. T9, retrieve the body then dismantle the speeder. Loa, fly us into the Thermosphere. We’ll eject the speeder and the body. In the meantime, I’ll plot our course to the White Tiger Temple.”

Loa stopped him from leaving. “I am afraid the Empire knows you’re on planet,” she worried in Cheuhn.

Bellon shrugged and smiled haphazardly. “I’ve dealt with worse.” He kissed her cheek. “I can handle the Sith.” He headed off to the captain’s cabin and his desk of maps of Azeroth.

“He REALLY doesn’t like Sith, does he?” Torque noted.

“Nope,” Loa responded and headed for the cockpit.


	9. White Tiger Temple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally find Velen, and he has no answers to their questions. Loa is tired of the run-around and ready to kill something. Her wish is answered.  
> Bellon and the party, Satele Shan and her party, and a Sith converge. The rendezvous does not go well for someone.

Once more the _Raptor_ settled to the surface. This time it was in open, rocky plains near an escarp with a large, octagonal building at the crest. The group stood at the foot of the ship’s ramp looking up at the beautiful and graceful structure resting on top of the mountain.

“If they tell us we have to go someplace else to find this Velen, I’m going to kill someone,” Loa grumbled.

“Judging by Rena’s reaction, my guess is he’s here,” Luxraina said indicating Rena’s wide-eyed grin as she squirmed eagerly.

“Dr. Nope, stay here and protect the ship,” Arbeth ordered then started toward a road that led to the base of the escarp.

The beginning of the path up to the temple was marked by tall, white-granite posts topped by two wood cross pieces of graduated size and secured by intricate, geometrical wood carvings; the gate was flanked by a white-granite tiger and a bronze gong. Nearby were several wooden stands with reed bundles bound by red cords suspended from them.

“Practice pells,” Cinnabar noted of the reed bundles. She struck the gong then passed under the gate; the others followed.

The path led up through several areas where temple monks studied or sparred. No one seemed to take notice of the six beings with the baby, except one. An obviously older Pandaren, by the grey around his muzzle, paused his class and watched them pass by.

“Dadda?” Rena extended her arms towards him.

Loa pulled her closer. “Who’s that?”

“Master Lao,” Cinnabar said turning and bowing to the elder Pandaren.

He said nothing but politely returned the bow. There were mutterings among his students. He clapped his hands sharply and silence fell.

They all heaved a sigh of relief when they stood at the bottom of a broad staircase leading into the temple proper. Just as they reached the open doorway, they were met by a ghostly form of a huge tiger.

It stared at them silently.

Cinnabar approached, bowed, and greeted it. “Master Xuan, we come…”

“Prophet Velen is within. Enter and be welcomed but bring no strife with you.” The tiger turned and entered the temple.

“Oh, he’s here,” Arbeth sighed at the sight of the elderly Draenei.

“Now, if he knows something,” Bellon muttered in Cheunh to Loa.

“Keep a positive mind, honey,” she replied.

“I understand you six – er - seven, have been looking for me,” Velen spoke. There was a sense of power, even the infinite, in his voice.

“He-yo,” Rena smiled at him and waved.

“She says hello,” Bellon translated.

“You’ve been hanging around her too long if you can understand what she’s saying,” Loa quipped setting Rena on her feet.

“You are also being followed,” Velen said watching the child toddle toward Xuen.

“ _Vit-vit_ ,” she said reaching for the ghostly big cat.

“Xuen is not a kitty, Rena,” Bellon said.

“He’s a god,” Arbeth clarified.

“I am a spirit,” Xuen said lowering his nose to Rena. “This small one understands.” He exhaled, surrounding Rena with a smoky vapor.

Cinnabar gasped the bowed. “Your blessing is greatly appreciated, honored one.”

“We’re looking for Taeshalach,” Torque announced crossing his arms over his chest. “She seems to think it will heal Azeroth.” He jerked his head toward Rena.

“She is correct,” Velen said.

“How do you know we’re being followed? By whom and why?” Loa demanded striding over to pick her daughter up.

“ _Nah_ ,” Rena protested and pushed against her mother’s protective hold.

“There are those who would continue Sargeras’ work to destroy the world soul. There are those who would prefer to reap the dark power of Azeroth’s blood, which Gorribal has spilled onto the plains of Silithus. There are those that fear finding Taeshalach will unleash more corruption,” Velen explained.

“Then there are those of us who would see Azeroth healed and Gorshalch reformed,” Xuen explained.

“If Gorshalch is restored, who would wield it?” Luxraina asked. “There are no Titans left; and as Billy pointed out once, none of us are big enough.”

“Would reforging Gorshalch be enough to heal Azeroth or must we do that first?” Cinnabar asked.

“Where the hell is Taeshalach?” Torque asked.

“Exarch Yrel was terrified by the idea of us finding Taeshalach. Why would that be?” Arbeth asked.

“Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba,” Rena announced.

“The baby is correct,” Xuen said.

“HUH?” Torque asked.

Bellon and Loa looked at one another and their daughter. “I didn’t catch what she said,” Bellon admitted cautiously.

“Only a pure heart can handle Taeshalach without fear of being corrupted,” Xuen explained.

“You got all that from ‘Ba’?” Torque scrunched his face in confusion.

“Just because you cannot understand the utterings of this child does not mean she has no thoughts,” Xuen chastised gently. “Anyone who carries the slightest doubt, despair, violence, anger, hatred, fear, or pride can be corrupted.” The White Tiger looked at each individual.

“That is why I came to Pandaria,” Velen explained. “I hoped to learn to control my emotions so that my heart might be pure enough to handle Taeshalach. Alas, I was not successful.” He hung his head in shame.

“Who among us can say we have complete security in our purity?” What Xuen did next, terrified Loa; he looked straight at Rena.

“Oh, no, not her. She’s a baby. She is NOT touching some cursed weapon older than the galaxy,” Loa announced turning so that Rena was away from the Xuen and Velen.

Bellon placed himself between the tiger and his family. “How is a six-month-old child not even as tall as Torque supposed to handle a sword of a Titan? Not to mention, her touching it would be sending up a giant flare to all the universe saying, ‘Powerful baby, come and get her!’ Nope, find some other… being.” His friends were gathering around him in solidarity.

“This world is dying; that child is our only hope,” Velen explained. His voice was tinged with fear.

“This is a baby,” Arbeth said, jutting her chin and brandishing her bow Thas’dorah.

“If Gorribal succeeds in sucking Azeroth dry, Master Hunter, you will not have a world on which to live. There will be no more babies born here,” Velen responded vehemently.

“No!” Loa countered pulling out her blaster ready to fight for her child’s safety.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Velen turned on Loa. “You have a world, to go home to. I’ve had two home worlds invaded by the Burning Legion and blown up and a third world now on the brink of destruction.”

“Sounds to me like you’re cursed,” Bellon countered hotly.

“I…”

Everyone jumped when a portal appeared. Weapons were drawn and out. Khadgar stepped through and looked at the tableau. “What did I do?” He asked as the portal winked out.

Everyone sighed. “You scared us,” Loa announced putting her service blaster back in its holster.

“Sorry.” He apologized. “Would someone mind telling me what is happening?”

“Well, Dr. Nope ate a Sith and that spirit wants to give a sword of the Titans to that baby,” Torque said.

“I think he needs the long version,” Bellon pushed the goblin out of the way and gave Khadgar a rundown of events since they left Karazhan and up to the discussion that had been going on when the archmage arrived.

“I think we can help. I have gotten in touch with Thrall, he’s on his way so please don’t kill him,” Khadgar explained. “Ah, as a matter of fact…”

Another portal appeared, and the Orc Earth-Warden stepped through.

“Sorry I’m late,” Thrall said. “What did I miss?”

Bellon repeated the conversation.

“Dr. Nope ate a Sith?” Khadgar asked.

Bellon explained.

“The Sith would like to get their hands on that child, if all you say is true. They are supporting the harvesting of Azerite crystals. It has been an effort to bring that to a halt,” Thrall explained. “Your assessment of the ease with which you can be followed is correct, Master Dekidt. We can stop them here.”

Loa’s sigh was very audible. “But I’m not letting anyone expect MY baby to be the keeper of a cursed, Titan, artifact weapon!”

“Nor should she,” Xuen said. “But! She will have to be the vessel by which we handle Taeshalach and then Gorshalch to put Gorshalch in a safe location until a Titan emerges who can wield it.”

“She doesn’t need to touch any of the three swords,” Khadgar said. “She just needs to move them.”

“Some elucidation is required,” Loa snapped.

“What’s elucididdle?” Torque asked Bellon in a whisper.

“Sh-sh!”

“She must learn to levitate objects,” Khadgar explained as if it were a simple matter. “We start small with light objects and then build up to the sword.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Loa snapped sarcastically.

“Let me show you; set her down.” He lowered himself to a cross-legged position and patted the floor as Loa put Rena down. He pulled a piece of paper from his robes and placed it on the floor then levitated it.

Rena smiled and pointed making a happy sound. He looked intently at her. She stared at him expectantly then stood and leaned her forehead against his.

“What…” Bellon stopped Loa’s question.

“Doh!” Rena barked, and the paper rose off the floor.

“Archmage Sharpshiv can teach her…”

“Hell no!” Bellon interrupted. “My little girl is not going to be taught anything by that little, green pervert!”

“Heh, I’m not a perv!” Torque countered.

“Yes, you are,” Arbeth said.

Torque looked around; Luxraina and Cinnabar were nodding their heads.

“If we are going to hide your movements, we must all be here,” Xuen indicated the three powerful men with him.

“Harmon, where’s Harmon?” Bellon asked.

“Dalaran, he now leads the Kirin Tor,” Khadgar said. “Torque is more than capable, and I am SURE he will curb his proclivities.”

“Proklevites?” Torque asked.

“Your naughty urges,” Loa suggested.

“She’s a baby. I wouldn’t do anything to her that would hurt her. She’d hurt me back; not to mention Billy would kill me… again… and again…”

“And again, until it sunk into your thick skull,” Bellon announced.

“Then it’s settled. You will find Taeshalach, bring it to Silithus using Rena’s ability and pure soul and reunite it with Gorribal to reforge Gorshalch. Archmage Sharpshiv, in the meantime, will train Rena so that she can transport the blade.” Khadgar stood and dusted his robes happily. “We will stay here and cover your trail.”

“One hitch.” Arbeth stepped in holding up her finger. “Where the HELL is Taeshalach.” She glared at the silence that followed. “If you tell me you don’t know, I am going to start shooting people.” She pulled an arrow from her quiver to prove her point.

“Well, we know, generally, where it is,” Velen admitted.

“What do you mean by generally?” Bellon demanded glaring at the Draenei.

“It is on Azeroth. We just don’t know exactly where,” he explained.

“A’dal told us that!” Torque noted glaring at Velen.

“Well, I suppose that’s better than somewhere in the vast expanse of interstellar space.” Loa threw up her hands in exasperation.

Velen indicated everyone calm down. “When Argus exploded, we turned the _Vindicaar_ toward Azeroth and jumped dimensions to get here. When we stopped over Azeroth, we noticed Taeshalach had been caught in our slip stream. It flew past and down to the surface. We just don’t know where it landed.”

“Does the _Vindicaar_ have sensors that would have recorded that?” Bellon asked all business.

“Yes, why?” Velen asked.

“If I can get Taeshalach’s mass and trajectory and speed from the sensors, I can approximate within about 100 kilometers where it impacted the surface,” he explained.

“You must speak with High Exarch Turalyon or Grand Artificer Romuul,” Velen explained. “The _Vindicaar_ is still above Azeroth.”

“I know; we saw her coming in. She’s in geosynchronous orbit over some population center on the eastern continent,” Loa explained.

Luxraina took a deep breath. “I suppose that’s where we’re off to next, Stormwind?”

“Nope, straight to the _Vindicaar_ ,” Bellon announced turning on his heels and heading out of the temple.

“What about Rena? Are we going to let them use her this way?” Loa scooped up the baby and hurried after.

Bellon stopped and his shoulders sagged. “I suppose she is the answer to the salvation of Azeroth.” He faced Loa and placed his hands on her shoulders. “But we will be with her every second. I will die to keep any harm from coming to her.”

“And I will die if I teach her anything other than how to move a damn big, Titan sword,” Torque said squeezing Loa’s hand.

“And we will also die to keep Rena safe,” Arbeth assured; Cinnabar and Luxraina assuring their support as well.

Loa looked around and suddenly understood why Bellon had been so attached to this group. She smiled and nodded. “Then it’s to the _Vindicaar_. All aboard!” She glared back at Velen. “Tell them we’re coming.”

********

As they were approaching the ship, Bellon stopped the group and scanned the country side.

“What is it?” Luxraina asked easing her sword and shield into place.

“We are being watched,” Bellon answered. “Everyone stay here.”

“Dfrey!” Loa tried to stop his leaving. “Cin, take Rena.” She lunged and caught Bellon’s arm. “The Sith won’t take you alive.”

“If it were the Sith, I’d be dead already. Keep your blaster handy,” he urged her back to the group and continued forward removing his helmet.

He stopped when a woman in chain mail stood from the grass and walked toward him.

“Mom!” The word escaped Theron’s mouth. “How did he know we’re here?”

Satele hissed and signaled the others to stay down. When the male walking toward her removed his helmet, she removed hers. She walked boldly toward the wiry Chiss wearing the armor of a hunter.

Bellon moved to put her between him and those she was with.

Theron aimed his blaster at the former Imperial agent. He swore when the Chiss maneuvered Satele as a shield.

“Master Shan, this is a surprise,” Bellon greeted, stopping just outside of lightsaber range. “What brings you to Azeroth?”

“I might ask the same of you, considering Imperial Intelligence would like you dead or locked safely in Shadow Town,” Satele answered. “If you must know, I came to see what you might be up to.”

Bellon assumed a casual mien and waved vaguely at the countryside. “Oh, just sightseeing and making acquaintances. How about you?”

“Is that your wife?” Satele indicated Loa, who had her blaster trained on the Jedi.

“Yeah, can you imagine that? Me? Married? I quite like it. I sense you are not alone.”

Satele blinked. He sensed? Not he assumed but he sensed. She studied him carefully. “You are Force sensitive.”

Suddenly Bellon grabbed her and threw her to the ground. A red lightsaber spun overhead, looped around and returned to its owner.

Theron saw Bellon throw Satele to the ground. He was about to shoot the exposed Chiss when he saw the thrown Sith lightsaber. He followed it back to its source and open fired. At the same time, everyone else fired on the same spot.

Blaster fire, boltcaster bolts, ice bolts, hammer of justice, fire arrows, and blade storm all hit the spot and continued to rain down destruction.

There was a piercing whistle and “Cease fire! Everyone stop! I think you got him.”

All attention turned to Bellon. He pulled Satele to her feet. He headed for where the Sith lightsaber lay. Theron jumped up and ran to intercept. They both reached the same point. Bellon kicked at what was left of a smoldering Sith Juggernaut’s armor.

“Who is it?” Theron asked.

Bellon faced him and stared a moment then indicated the body. “There isn’t enough to tell. I can’t even tell if it was male or female.” He faced his friends. “It’s quite dead. Well done.” He started back toward Satele, Theron with him.

The two groups cautiously approached the Jedi grand master. Except for Loa, she rushed to her husband and grabbed him. Bellon returned her hug reassuringly. He saw Cinnabar with Rena slipping away to the _Raptor_.

“What did you find?” Arbeth asked.

“A pile of goo,” Bellon told her.

“That’s three,” Loa said, her complexion pale.

“Three?” Theron asked.

“They’ve come at us one at a time. I doubt that will happen again.” Bellon kept ahold of Loa as he made introductions. “I don’t know that bunch. Oh, I recognize you; you’re Havoc squad.” He smiled as the soldiers removed their helmets. “You must be Major Kizhe. It is an honor to meet you.” He stuck his hand out to the small commander.

Kizhe offered a handshake cautiously. Havoc Squad was a republic secret as were all members of Special Forces, supposed to be. She would mention this to General Garza when she saw her again.

“What is the Chiss interest in Azeroth?” Theron asked with a challenge in his voice.

Bellon cocked an eyebrow. “The same as the Republic’s. Have you noticed that big-ass sword sticking out of the planet’s crust!”

“You’re here for the sword,” the tall male Jedi said.

“Trust me, no one wants that,” Torque piped up. “It ate 25 Sith. Just imagine what it would do to you. Heh, Billy, I thought these Jedi dudes couldn’t come to Azeroth?”

“They can if they sneak on,” Bellon said.

Torque thought a moment. “Oh, so they aren’t SUPPOSED to be here.”

Arbeth patted his head. “Your keen, analytical skills boggle one’s mind.”

“It ate 25 Sith?” Theron asked incredulously.

Torque happily regaled the others with the story. “Pfffft, gone.” He then trotted over to where the Sith had been hiding.

“What ARE you doing here?” Satele asked.

“Hoping to find a way to keep it from destroying our home,” Luxraina said. “What are YOU doing here?”

“Came to see why HE is here,” Satele indicated Bellon.

“And to wrest this planet from the Empire no doubt,” Bellon added.

“Now see here,” Theron advanced on Bellon.

“Heh, what do we do with this?” Torque came back carrying the Sith lightsaber.

Bellon grabbed it and tossed it to Pazel. “WE do nothing. Theron, you need to calm down. The only reason two Jedi, an SIS agent, and special forces would land on an enemy planet is to take control.” Bellon glared at his former counterpart. “Azeroth isn’t up for grabs. We worked HARD to ensure the Empire wouldn’t have any control over the planet’s politics or its people. We aren’t about to hand it to the Republic.”

“We being the Chiss Ascendancy. Of course.” Theron looked at the sky and shook his head. “It all makes sense now. You gave the leaders of Azeroth the knowledge of how to negotiate a treaty such as the Ascendancy has.”

Bellon slapped Theron’s upper arm. “I knew you’d figure it out. Wel’p, we have places to go and people to see. Nice chat and good luck with whatever you think you might accomplish here.” Bellon spun and headed for the ship.

“That was interesting,” Kizhe muttered as the others walked away. “From what you said, Agent Shan, we have met former Cipher 9 and lived to tell the tale; therefore, he needs us for something. Are you still standing by that statement?”

“Yes,” Theron said, spun and headed for where they left their griffins.


	10. The Vindicaar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a lot of running about and dealing with paranoid Azerothians, Billy and the gang narrow down the location of Taeshalach.  
> It is in an area of about 1000 square miles, in the ocean, with depths up to several miles, filled with psychotic Naga and their minions; let's not forget they are being followed by Sith and Jedi.  
> What's to worry?

The _Vindicaar_ was in high orbit over Stormwind. Bellon noticed that it was nowhere near as large as the _Exodar_ ; it was perhaps one-third the size.

“ _Vindicaar_ , this is CDV _Raptor_ , over. Come in _Vindicaar_.”

“CDV _Raptor_ , this is _Vindicaar_ ; what is your purpose?”

“We need to meet with High Exarch Turalyon.”

“Maintain course X-157 Y-349 A-140.”

Loa slowed her speed but held the course that would carry the _Raptor_ past the _Vindicaar_ about 150,000 kilometers off her lower port beam. She chuckled at Torque who had his face smashed against one of the cockpit visual ports staring at the ship and Azeroth and the stars around them.

“This is High Exarch Turalyon, state your business,” the deep male voice on the other end of the radio demanded.

Bellon took over. “We seek information from the _Vindicaar’s_ sensor logs. Khadgar, Thrall, and Velen have sent us to speak with you.”

There was a pause then the docking controller took over. “CDV _Raptor_ , change course X-112 Y-270 A-128 reduce speed to 229. You are authorized to dock at port Zeta.”

“You are going to hit a moving target with a moving target going how fast?” Torque was amazed. He didn’t notice Bellon leave the bridge.

“It’s easy,” Loa muttered and made the course adjustments. The docking controller talked her up to the docking port. There was a thunk then a series of clunks as the bigger ship locked the smaller ship into the docking port. This was followed by a hiss.

“We have airtight seal and lock,” Bellon called.

“You and the others go,” Loa told Torque. “Rena and I will stay here with T-9.”

“I’ll leave Dr. Nope,” Arbeth offered.

“No, that’s okay, take him with you. I don’t want him eating anyone else on my watch.” Loa uncertainly pet the spider. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as creepy as she expected.

“You’ll get used to him, honey.” Bellon kissed her cheek as he holstered his blaster.

She sealed the airlock after they left, set the ship sensors to alarm at the approach of another vessel and sat down in the cabin to read to Rena.

The five were met by a tall, blue Draenei. “I am Grand Artificer Romuul. I will take you to Turalyon.” He led them into a vaulted chamber with a mezzanine deck and ramps leading to a lower level. They took one of the ramps down to the lower deck; additional ramps leading further down indicated an even lower deck. Romuul took a set of stairs to the navigation console on the bridge, which looked out over Azeroth.

“You’re human,” Bellon noted somewhat surprised. “I was expecting another Draenei.”

The human who faced him was tall, broad chested, a shock of white hair, face pock-marked by scars. His eyes had a sad and weary cast to them. The steel armor he wore was highlighted with gold and elements of bright, glowing light. “I am High Exarch Turalyon. I do not recognize your race. You are?”

“Bellon’dfrey’theris, core name Dfrey, Chiss Ascendancy Consulate.” Bellon bowed.

“Luxriana, Sunseeker Paladin of the Blackhoof clan.”

“Master Hunter Arbeth Williams.”

“Archmage Torque Sharpshiv.”

“High Priestess Cinnabar.”

Turalyon acknowledge each. “I heard what you did for Azeroth, Dfrey. What is it you need of the _Vindicaar_?”

Bellon explained why they were there. ”I need to review the _Vindicaar’s_ sensor logs.”

“Romuul,” Turalyon indicated the Draenei help Bellon. He turned to the others as Bellon followed Romuul. “How do you plan to transport a cursed sword of the Titans?”

“That is… classified,” Arbeth suggested cautiously. “Rest assured we have a plan.”

Turalyon studied each again. “I know I do not have purity enough to handle such a weapon. What makes you think you do?” It was a challenge.

“Oh, we have someone,” Torque said and started wandering about looking at things.

Turalyon realized none of them were going to say anything else. “You fear for this person’s safety.”

“Yes,” Arbeth admitted though cautiously. “We’ve already met with resistance, negativity, and an assassination attempt.”

“Let me warn you of what lies ahead. I might be sitting high above Azeroth, separated by thousands of miles but I know of the evil lurking below. The Twilight’s Hammer still exists under the influence of Deathwing. Fel demons and followers of Sargeras still walk the surface hoping to carry out his foul plan. The Naga below the waves look to conquer the world and eradicate the surface dwellers. Even the remnants of Gul’dan’s followers remain. Sylvanas looks to conquer Azeroth for her Forsaken and the Horde. Even below the surface in Deepholm the former prison of Deathwing, Therazane the Stonemother and her offspring learn to hate the soft surface dwellers as the Twilight’s Hammer look to claim her realm for themselves.”

“You make it all sound so cheery,” Torque sneered.

“And what happens if we do nothing?” Cinnabar demanded with uncharacteristic anger. “Azeroth dies and so do we; that’s what!”

“Pride, anger, fear, I hear them in your voices,” Turalyon said. “Your quest is doomed.”

“We have two things you do not,” Luxraina said. “We have hope and a plan. Come let us go assist Billy.” She headed off in the direction Romuul had led their friend.

They found the two on the lowest level. Romuul leaned against a console watching Bellon pour over the sensor data from their entry into Azeroth’s orbit after the destruction of Argus.

Bellon smiled up. “I’ve got an area.”

“So, tell us; are we fighting the Twilight’s Hammer, angry stone creatures, more effing demons, fel-crazed orcs, or Naga?” Torque asked.

Bellon showed him an area on the world map.

“Vashj’ir, crazed Kvaldir, power-hungry Nagas, greedy Giblin, and unstable water elementals. Oh, goodie.” Torque rolled his eyes.

“What you circled includes Volrupt Fissure; if it is in the Fissure, it is many miles below the surface,” Cinnabar noted pointing to an area south of the Shimmering Expanse. “I should lead the way, find Erunak Stonespeaker. He is the Broken Shaman of the Earthen Ring who provided me the ability to exist under water indefinitely. He can do the same for all of us.”

“He’s a broken shaman? That doesn’t sound too promising,” Bellon said frowning.

“The Broken are a sub-race of the Draenei, also called the Krokul,” Luxraina explained. She pointed over at a being entering to speak with Romuul. “He is one of the Broken.”

“Just be happy he ain’t a Wreked shaman,” Torque quipped with a grin.

Bellon could see the similarity between the Broken and the Draenei. “Oh, well in that case. What about Rena?”

“Rena too,” Luxraina said somewhat sadly. “We cannot leave her and your mate behind for such a long time especially since…” she broke off eyeing Romuul, who finished speaking with the Broken.

“Word has arrived from Velen telling us of your visit.” Romuul smiled sardonically. “It seems you arrived before his message. We have been asked to provide you with whatever you need to accomplish your task.”

“Where is Erunak Stonespeaker?” Cinnabar asked.

Romuul shrugged at that. “I suggest you ask around Vashj’ir. Have you found all you need here?” He looked at Bellon.

“Yes,” Bellon pocketed the map he had made as Turalyon walked in.

“Velen’s message said there are seven of you.” Turalyon was accusatory.

“My mate remained on the _Raptor_ with our seventh member, who is not feeling well,” Bellon lied smoothly.

Turalyon looked at them suspiciously. “Why did you not tell me that?”

“I did not see it as being relevant. What business is the health of my crew to you?” Bellon was equally challenging back.

“How do I know you were not planning to infiltrate the _Vindicaar_ and take her by force?” Turalyon counted.

“How do I know YOU were not planning to infiltrate the _Raptor_ and take HER by force?” Bellon placidly met his gaze. “We both have our reasons for keeping our full strength close to our chests.”

“Let’s go,” Arbeth headed for the air lock.

********

“So, what did you find out?” Loa asked once the _Raptor_ was free of the _Vindicaar_.

“Taeshalach landed in the ocean off the coast of the Eastern Kingdoms,” Bellon explained. He couldn’t take his eyes off Rena who was now playing with Dr. Nope.

Loa’s jaw dropped. “How are we supposed to find it? We don’t have diving gear.”

Bellon placed his hands on her shoulders and used his soothing tone. “One, Cinnabar knows a guy.” He smiled at Loa’s long-suffering expression.

“If you had said Torque knows a guy, I’d have smacked you,” she grumbled. “So, what about this guy Cinnabar knows?”

“He has a way of imbuing people with the permanent ability to breathe under water. Barring that and if necessary, we requisition deep-diving gear through the Consulate.”

“So where is this guy?” Loa asked Cinnabar.

“I am hoping he is still in Vashj’ir,” She explained. “There are small islands where we can land. I have spent time in Vashj’ir and can breathe underwater. I’ll go look for him.”

“I’ll go too; I don’t need to breathe,” Arbeth pointed out.

“And I can cast a water-breathing spell on myself that will last several hours,” Torque explained.

Bellon frowned. “Why didn’t you just do that back in Bradensbrook?”

“I didn’t know it then. I just learned it a couple of months ago. I haven’t figured out how to make it permanent or to make it work on others.”

Loa patted Torque’s cheek. “I’m sure you did your best. Okay so what is our course?”

“I suggest we fly back to the White Tiger Temple, then keep low, real low below radar, to our destination. The area is just north and east of Pandaria. I’ll man the sensors and see if I can pick up any readings that will narrow the search area down for us,” Bellon suggested.


	11. Nespira

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They land on a beautiful tropical isle on the edge of the former high elf realm of Vashj'ir. Loa sunbathes and Bellon and Rena build a sandcastle under the protective gaze of Luxraina while Torque, Arbeth, and Cinnabar go looking for help.  
> Once within Vashj'ir, they set up base in Darkbreak Cove with members of the Alliance Navy where little Rena proceeds to terrorize the battle hardened sailors and marines.  
> They visit the giant mollusk, Nespira in hopes she might be able to help them narrow down the location of Taeshalach. They also run into a pair of zealous Sith.

They all exited the ship stepping onto the white sand of a small islet in the middle of the azure sea. It was warm, sunny, with gulls calling overhead in a cloudless blue sky. They were somewhere south of the area known as Vashj’ir on the edge of the Volrupt Fissure.

Loa sighed. “Well, I suppose it isn’t a ba-ad place to be.” She tested the water. “The water’s even warm. I know what I’m going to do while the lot of you are off looking for this ‘guy’.” She headed back onto the ship.

Bellon chuckled. “I’m going to play in the sand with Rena until you get back. Take care.”

Arbeth looked at the water then at Dr. Nope. She knelt in front of her spider. “You stay dry on that ship,” she said indicating the _Raptor_. Dr. Nope chittered sadly. “The water makes you sick. Go.” She watched as the spider scuttled back up the ramp.

She turned away and with Cinnabar and Torque walked boldly into the water then dove below the surface.

Bellon and Rena were working on a very elaborate sandcastle when Loa came back out in a bathing suit with a towel and eye protectors. After a swim in the ocean, she stretched out on the sand and soaked up the warmth of the sun.

Luxraina was reviewing the data they had gathered flying in. She was hoping to find evidence of the corruption of Taeshalach and thus narrow down their search.

She glanced up at an unusual movement. Bellon was floating and adding to the top of a tower of the sand castle. Torque had been working with Rena, but she didn’t except the little girl to achieve this level of proficiency this fast. She reinforced the protection she and Cinnabar had cast around Rena and went back to her work.

“Good girl,” Bellon praised once his feet touched ground. He picked up Rena and stood off to admire their work. “Oh, no, not momma.” He stopped Rena from levitating Loa. “Loa, honey, wake up, you’re turning purple. Look what our little _Gizka_ made.” He indicated the castle.

Two heads popped up off the shoreline.

“That wasn’t long,” Bellon noted; he didn’t know how long he expected them to be; four standard hours didn’t seem long. “You must be Shaman Erunak Stonespeaker.” Bellon introduced himself, Loa, and Rena. “Where are Arbeth and Cin?”

“Fortunately, he wasn’t far,” Torque said shaking water out of his hair then hopping to clear his ears. “We need to get twelve special-type of starfish and a conch shell each; Arbeth and Cin are doing that. I needed to replenish my breathing spell.”

“I was led to understand one of your number was young; I didn’t expect an infant,” Erunak studied Rena, who was trying to eat sand.

“Is that a problem?” Loa asked brushing sand out of Rena’s mouth and off her hands.

“The enchantment is meant for adults.” Erunak explained a little worried.

“I got a idea,” Torque got down on the sand with Rena and put their heads together; they were that way for a while. “Whoa, what a rush. Okay, she said for her it should be…”

“She said?” Erunak asked skeptically.

“Yeah, she said, stick with me on this, Runny. She said it’s not the size of the castee but the preparation of the enchantment that matters. She also told me how to make mine permanent,” Torque shook his head in wonder.

“When did you learn to do that?” Bellon demanded.

“Khadgar said to just empty my head and let her do that.”

“Well, emptying your head is easy; there’s so little there to begin with,” Bellon shrugged.

“Hey, I think… stuff,” Torque countered, his feeling hurt.

“I’m sure you do Torque; it’s just that sometimes your thoughts are… beyond normal comprehension,” Loa stepped in. She smiled smugly at Bellon. “Now who’s politic?” she asked in Cheunh. She faced Erunak. “What does the casting of this enchantment entail? I will not allow anything that hurts her. If we must, she and I will stay behind.”

“There is no harm or danger,” Erunak assured. “But the sea is a dangerous place. There are sharks, Naga, Giblins, Kvaldir to mention a few. I do hope your reason for taking her into Vashj’ir is worth all that.” He looked leadingly at the two parents.

If Cinnabar and decided not to share the reason for their visit, Bellon wasn’t going to gainsay her decision. He smiled. “It is worth it,” he assured picking up Rena before she stuffed more sand in her mouth. “How long will it take to prepare the enchantment?”

Erunak shrugged off not learning the reason for their presence. “Not long, an hour maybe. However, I’ll need a pot and fire for the preparation.” He looked around the empty sandspit occupied solely by the gleaming spaceship. “A stove top will do.”

********

Several hours later, the enchantment was prepared and everyone including Rena drank it from the conch shells. Cinnabar boldly entered the water; Bellon took a deep breath and followed indicating Loa and Rena wait. He had experience with the breathing potion so was a little more willing to test the enchantment.

Once again, there was the urge to not breathe and he held his breath as long as he could. He was rewarded with his lungs filling with air. He surfaced, gave Loa a thumbs-up and dove down again to wait for her.

Loa was terrified. She was the last on the shore, and even after Bellon gave her a thumbs-up, she was filled with uncertainty. She held Rena close over her heart. She was suddenly filled with a sense of serenity as Rena wrapped her little arms around her momma’s neck.

Loa strode into the water and put her head under and took a breath. She was breathing. She could also see well; Bellon was giving her that silly grin of his. She walked toward him and found she could move very quickly along the ocean’s floor.

“ _Ticsi_ ,” Rena shouted and lurched out of Loa’s arms. She floated toward her father. Her voice was loud and clear even under water.

“Okay, we’re all here. I’m going to give T-9 some instructions.” Bellon headed back to the beach.

“What did you tell it?” Loa asked in Cheunh when he returned.

“To take the ship back to the Ascendancy dock in Desolace Space Port until I call for it. Are we ready to start looking for this bloody-big blade?”

“Erunak went to get us some mounts. Everyone is waiting in a cave.” She led him down and into a dark tunnel.

Their Chiss eyes adopted to the dark allowing them to follow it without bumping into stalagmites or stalactites. They surfaced in a cave with a faint hint of fresh air coming in from someplace high above them. The rest of the group was waiting. A small fire was taking the chill off the deep cave.

“So where do we start looking?” Arbeth asked.

“We could ask around, if anyone has noticed a source of particularly dark energy,” Cinnabar suggested.

“If it were that obvious, wouldn’t the Sith and the Twinkly Hummers…”

“Twilight’s Hammer, honey,” Bellon corrected.

“I like Twinkly Hummers,” Torque grinned.

Loa rolled her eyes. “Whatever, …and all the others been drawn to it? Not to mention our sensors would have picked it up. Wherever it is, its presence is screened by something.”

“Well, that could mean it landed in a hot-bed of corruption or buried itself into something that resists the sensors,” Arbeth suggested.

“Or,” Torque had a pained look on his face, “it landed in VERY, VERY deep water.”

“I told you, you do think good stuff,” Loa encouraged patting his cheek.

Torque smiled happily and leaned his head against Loa’s arm. “I love you.” He straightened at a bull-like snort from Bellon.

Bellon opened up the holomap he had made on the _Vindicaar_.

Cinnabar sat across from him and began pointing out the deep areas of Vashj’ir and continental trenches. “I wonder if Nespira is still alive. She might know.”

“Who’s Nespira,” Bellon asked.

“An ancient mollusk; she is the last of her species,” Cinnabar said. “When I was here before, one of the things I had to do was save her from the Nagas. They were harvesting her pearls and trying to take control of her to make her fight for them. The other of her kind, L’Ghorek, did not survive the – er - pest infestation and extermination process. If we want to converse with Nespira, we need to head northeast; she’s in the Shimmering Expanse.”

“How would we communicate with a… her?” Loa asked.

“Erunak did the communicating but I remember how he did it,” Cinnabar said. “I don’t think we want to involve him in our investigation. Too many people know already.”

Everyone agreed to that.

“So what sort of mounts is Erunak bringing us?” Bellon asked.

Cinnabar chuckled. “Probably seahorses.”

“I’m going to name mine Spot the Second,” Bellon announced. “By the way, how is Spot the First doing?”

“Last I saw he had a small herd of mares and seemed quite pleased with himself,” Arbeth answered. “Oh, our rides have arrived.”

Erunak handed over the six seahorses. He agreed to lead them to a dry refuge within a day’s travel of Nespira.

It took the uninitiated some time to adjust to sitting on and guiding the seahorse mounts, but Erunak and Cinnabar led a short training session.

After about an hour, they were on their way. Aside from communicating, another delightful side effect of the enchantment was the ability to clearly see. The water was no more than perhaps 100 feet deep in most places and sunlight reached the coral beds. It was beautiful, surreal, and otherworldly, even for those who had visited other worlds.

When a shark decided to get too close to the group, Torque hit it with a shaft of ice. It didn’t cause the shark to bleed but did encourage it to seek food elsewhere. He explained as the shark swam away that sharks hunted by sensing movement and smelling blood. If he had cut the shark, it would have thrashed about and bled, which would have drawn the attention of more sharks.

“How do you know that?” Loa asked.

“I grew up on an island, and I’ve been shipwrecked,” he explained. “You learn a lot about them when you’re up close and personal with those rows of jagged teeth.”

“Why are there ruins?” she asked pointing off to her left.

In the distance was a tall, stone building several stories high. Most of it was covered with algae and coral of brilliant colors. Schools of fish had made the rooms and alleys their home.

“It used to be a high-elf city. It was the home of Lestharia Vashj, who led the Kaldorei Empire,” Luxraina explained. “At the time of the Great Sundering, Vashj’ir sank.”

“There’s Nespira.” Cinnabar pointed beyond the elven ruins; in the distance was a huge shell that looked to be resting on a rock outcropping. “Darkbreak Cove is not far; we can rest, eat, and dry off before continuing on.” She angled off to the left.

It was getting late and the light was dimming as the sun set when she led them into a cave that was much larger than the first. A company of Stormwind marines and sailors had made it their base of operation. Cinnabar and Bellon went ashore to speak with the commander, a Draenei, while the others waited.

“I am Captain Glovaal; I have received word from Khadgar to expect a party of adventurers with a member of the Kirin Tor amongst them.” The officer eyed Torque suspiciously.

“That would be Torque Sharpshiv,” Bellon nodded toward the goblin then waved for Torque to join them.

“Howdy-do,” Torque greeted and stuck his hand out and up for the tall officer to shake.

“You are Kirin Tor?” the officer asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yuppers, that’s Arbeth Williams, her brother is one of King Greymane’s company commanders. That there is Luxraina the best paladin this side of … hell, she’s just the best paladin. That lovely with the blue complexion and the cute baby is Billy’s wife.” He pointed at Bellon.

“The heroes of Bradensbrook!” The officer’s eyes popped open. “Oh, welcome. Make yourselves comfortable.” He indicated the small tent town. “We have vendors for all your needs. If you need something repaired, my quartermaster is over there. Speak to Barracks Officer Milson; he’ll assign you quarters,” he indicated the points of interest from where he stood, “but I hope you will join me for supper?”

“We would be honored,” Cinnabar answered.

“I need to change Rena,” Loa indicated the baby and was directed to the first aid station.

“We need to see to our mounts and then rest and freshen up,” Luxraina said. “It’s been a long day.”

They secured the seahorses in a corral then headed for the barracks officer. He stood at one of the two largest tents, which he called an inn; it was actually several tents linked together. The ‘tavern’ was simply an open space with tables and chairs and a bar. They got ‘room’ assignments and dispersed.

Bellon found Rena entertaining the medics at the aid station while Loa sagged in a chair. He sent her back to the inn to lie down on the cot in their ‘room’ while he watched Rena.

“What made you bring a baby along on such a dangerous trip?” one of the medics asked him.

“My wife was unwilling to leave her behind.” He smiled. “First child.”

The medic chuckled and nodded knowingly. “How did she take to being underwater?”

“Like a fish to the sea,” Bellon quipped.

“What are you lot doing here?” the medic asked.

“We’re looking for something that was lost,” Bellon answered cryptically.

“Is there any way we can help?” It was Capt. Glovaal.

“Your offer is very kind, but we really need to keep this quiet; you understand classified operations,” Bellon indicated the Draenei’s naval uniform.

“Ah, yes.” Glovaal settled into another chair and watched Rena. “Vashj’ir is extremely dangerous, especially for a child. It would be safer for your wife to remain here with her.”

Bellon nodded. “It might; I’ll leave that up to Yaloan.” He used her more formal core name for this stranger.

There was a sudden eruption of fire; medics and others leapt back startled as a pile of wood that would have been used to warm any sick or injured burst into flames. Rena was laughing and clapping her hands.

Bellon pursed his lips. “Then again…”

********

The next morning, the whole group mounted their seahorses and left Darkbreak Cove. There was the distinct sense that the marines and sailors were glad to see them leave, especially after Rena caused the unexpected fire, which resisted all efforts to be extinguished. Bellon was carrying her and let her hold the end of the reins. She wiggled and giggled shaking them as if she were guiding the seahorse.

They exited the cave to a slightly grey day. Looking up they could see rain hitting the surface. Out of curiosity, Bellon momentarily surfaced and found rough seas and the sky threatening thunder and lightning. Still, it was serene and beautiful below the surface.

The route they took brought them closer to the ruins. Some large enough to hide a very large sword. Bellon did a sensor read just in case and found no trace of the corruption they were seeking.

Once past the ruins, Nespira dominated the seascape. Its mantle looked to have a diameter of over one kilometer. Antennae waved lazily in the water around its head. It had two claws, which hung down the side of the cliff upon which it rested.

There was a sudden movement as something touched one of its antennae. With surprising speed, a claw shot up and moved something to Nespire’a mouth. It went back to its lazy resting.

They approached avoiding the claws and antennae, but the creature’s eyes followed them. There was a round opening in its shell near its head. Cinnabar led them into the odd hole. The water stopped, and the group dismounted onto the hard surface of mantle material. The atmosphere was moist, and condensation dripped down the walls.

“What is this?” Bellon asked.

“Essentially, it’s the - er – bung hole,” Cinnabar explained delicately. “She can suck in water through this, wash out her inside and expel whatever.”

“What’s to keep this thing from expelling us?” Loa asked.

“Curiosity,” the Pandaren monk said. “Nespira is very curious.” She led them up into the body of the mollusk. Its heart surrounded by its intestines dominated the interior. They could see the shark it had recently snatched up to eat and even the veins with blood coursing through them.

“Not a pleasant smell,” Torque wrinkled his nose.

“Ah!” Rena pointed ahead to their left at an opening into another compartment.

“The cerebellium,” Cinnabar said. “That is where we will communicate with Nespira.” She entered the area.

Nespira’s brain sat in the chamber; electrical impulses fired out along nerves and made their hair stand on end.

Cinnabar stood very still and quiet for a long time during which the character of the impulses seemed to change.

“Is this what’s going on in our brains?” Torque asked quietly. “I-I feel so small. Do you think she can feel us standing inside her?” His complexion was paler than usual and his eyes wide.

Loa put a hand on his shoulder. “Have faith; if she wanted us dead, she wouldn’t have let us get this far. And look, Rena is smiling. I think if we were trouble, she would know.”

Torque lay his hand on hers and took comfort from her presence and contact. 

“Eeee,” Rena squealed and bounced as Cinnabar turned.

“Nespira says she has sensed a great evil such as has not existed in Vashj’ir before. It comes from the Throne of Tides area. She said there we will find Naga and their allies fighting Neptulon, their anger and hatred spurred by some unknown force,” Cinnabar explained.

“That sounds promising,” Bellon commented.

“Promising!” Arbeth glared at him. “You have a warped sense of what is promising and what is suicide!”

“I’m with her,” Torque said. “Mrs. Dekidt, talk sense into him.”

Loa sighed. “I have to agree with my man. We are looking for a source of horrific corruption. Where better to start than the middle of a war?”

“How about someplace away from DEATH!” Torque counted. “I don’t think I love you anymore.”

Loa laughed at him and leaned down to hug the little goblin. “We’ll be fine. I also have faith in our survival skills.” She turned to Cinnabar. “Do we owe Nespira anything for this information?”

“Torque,” Cinnabar answered with a shrug.

“WHAT?” Torque cringed.

“Just kidding,” Cinnabar laughed. “All she wants is for the corruption to be removed from her world. She says it makes her food taste funny.”

********

“My Lord, there they are,” the young apprentice pointed up to a group on seahorses headed west. “Lord Frenzen, Darth Severen, and Lord Hiyen went after them and never came back. These local creatures are strong with the force. There are six of them and only two…”

“Stop whining,” the inquisitor ordered. “Those three were weak,” he spat, which was frustrating because the spittle was stopped by the dense water and floated away on the current. He hated this planet. He hated the people. He hated his master for sending him on this errand to clean up the mess left by the former Imperial Intelligence. He hated being made to work for its replacement agency, Sith Intelligence. “The non-humans cannot be stronger than us, remember that. Use your anger and you will prevail. Come.”

Lord Hubron kicked his seahorse to move quickly. The seahorse shook its head and bucked before starting in the direction its rider wanted him to go. They sped west, pushing their mounts to their limits; the group they were tracking seemed to be in no hurry. They got well ahead using the coral and ruins as cover. Finally, Hubron saw the entrances to Darkbreak Cove and Tenebrous Cavern across the Lightless Reaches, which separated the Shimmering Expanse from the Abyssal Depths.

“We will catch them as they pass over the ledge above the abyss. There’s Tenebrous Cavern. We will take the Force sensitive child and the deserter there. Kill the rest.” Hubron moved to a point just under the lip of the shelf that was the Shimmering Expanse.

Acolyte Meron fidgeted as they waited. He didn’t share his master’s confidence about this group. He had overheard the discussion about the three other Sith. All three had communicators. All three had been diligent about transmitting their locations. Frenzen’s last transmitted location had been in Dark Wind Pass on the Eastern continent; the coordinates were in a village of large, angry, semi-sentient beasts. Severen’s last position was in the mountain of the island continent of Pandaria; her last coordinates put her about two-and-half kilometers from a monastery. Hiyen’s last coordinates, also in Pandaria, were about 10 kilometers from a temple and training ground. No bodies were found at any of the locations. The only evidence found of any of the three were the burnt remains of Lord Hiyen’s robes. He also did not share his master’s opinion those three were weak. He froze when he heard voices.

Hubron indicated that the moment their quarry came into view, they were to open with stunning ranged attacks to incapacitate the group. He was so focused on the voices, he never saw the three come up behind them. Sharks cleaned up the mess after it was over.


	12. Change of Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Khadgar lets the proverbial cat out of the bag; everyone in Darkbreak Cove now knows what the crew is up to. Rena is learning magic very well, perhaps a little TOO well; she shrinks a submarine full of men. Aristocra Prard sends Loa a "toy" to use in battle, and she's ecstatic.

Bellon and the gang returned to Darkbreak Cove to spend the night and plan the next leg of their journey.

“Kaddy my man!” Torque greeted the elder archmage with a wave as he dismounted his seahorse.

“Khadgar, what are you doing here?” Bellon asked once he was on a dry surface.

“The Empire has gotten wind of your presence here and that you have an exceptionally strong child. They are looking for you,” Khadgar said.

Bellon wrapped a protective arm around Rena, who was asleep in her carrier. His jaw set, and his eyes flared. “I know; two tried to ambush us on our way back from Nespira. You and Thrall and the tiger were going to throw them off our scent. Do you have any idea how the sons of bitches found out?” There was no accusation in his tone, just curiosity.

Khadgar shook his head. “They have spies everywhere. I have spoken with Aristocra Domol.” Khadgar cocked a smile. “Your people have spies everywhere too; I believe your Consular intends to find out what happened and throw up additional roadblocks. I have come to further cover your tracks.”

“Tell him about the Republic,” Loa urged.

“What?” Khadgar’s eyes were wide with surprise.

“Yeah,” Bellon told him about running into the team on the plains below the Temple of the White Tiger.

“Do these Republics know about Rena?” He asked studying the sleeping child.

“Cin whisked her away to the ship. I don’t think so,” Bellon said.

He reached over and touched Rena’s cheek. “They do not deserve you,” he whispered to her. “How is her training?” he addressed Torque.

“She can lift her dad and Cinnabar,” Torque said. “We’re working up to being able to lift the whole group. Then we have to find something REALLY big.”

“L’Gorhek,” Cinnabar suggested. “He’s dead so won’t mind.”

Khadgar looked around. “Before you move on, I want her to be able to pick up this whole group of people.”

Torque shook his head. “That won’t happen; they’re terrified of her.”

“And why is that?” Khadgar crossed his arms and glared at his protégé.

“She lit a bonfire under a group of medics,” Bellon explained.

“And we cannot put it out!” Capt. Glovaal announced his arrival and pointed at the offending fire at the first aid tent.

“Interesting,” Khadgar said rubbing his chin. He wandered off apparently distracted. He squatted beside the fire. “She has tied it off.” He looked over at Torque. “Did you teach her that?”

“Well, not specifically; she might have just picked it up,” the goblin admitted abashedly.

“To-or-rque!” Bellon growled. “What happened?”

“Well, it’s like this. I was working with her while we were travelling to that sand spit where we got off the ship? She had me suspended over the holoterminal when Lux suggested I teach her to tie off spells like I did on my trike. That got me to thinking about the shrinky-dink spell and how I figured out how to make that permanent.” Torque shrugged.

Bellon slapped his forehead. “Thank the gods she didn’t permanently shrink one of the medics!”

“Ba?” Rena startled awake.

“That’s it!” Khadgar grabbed Torque and spun him around; his eyes ablaze with excitement. “If she shrinks Taeshalach down, she won’t have to move a monster sword!”

Everyone stopped and stared at the group.

“Nice,” Bellon muttered slapping his forehead.

“Yes, everyone, we’re here to find Aggramar’s sword Taeshalach and reunite it with Gorribal to form Gorshalch,” Arbeth shouted spinning around to ensure no one had missed it. “And we have an amazingly powerful toddler to do the heavy lifting for us. Does anyone have any questions?”

Glovaal stared open-mouthed at the tall archmage. “Are you mad?”

“No, I am desperate.” Khadgar narrowed his eyes on the naval captain. “I refuse to allow Sargeras the last laugh. I will stop Gorribal from sucking the life out of Azeroth. If that little prodigy can’t do it, then… I’ll think of something else, but I won’t quit!”

Glovaal swallowed and turned away. “We must save our world.” He looked over at Bellon. “When you go into the Throne of Tides to wrest this thing from the Naga, my men will be behind you. We can keep them distracted while you look for Taeshalach.”

Bellon smiled and stuck out his hand. “Your help would be welcomed.”

“See, we can all be friends.” Torque grinned happily.

Bellon lay a hand on Torque’s shoulder. “Do you think YOU could Shrinky-dink Taeshalach?”

Torque shook his head sadly. “To have any impact on it, the caster would have to be pure of heart or the corruption will backlash and consume the caster.”

“Maybe not you alone but perhaps with me and through Rena,” Khadgar suggested.

“Yeah,” Torque’s eyes lit up. “If we channel through her, our taint will be filtered. If with the three of us we can get Taeshalach to a manageable size, Rena can transport it without any help or further training.” He grinned. “I can open a portal straight to Silithus and we can drop Taeshalach right next to Gorribal if not on top of it. Just before it hits, we remove the shrinky-dink and bodda-bing bodda-boom, instant Gorshalch. Billy, you need to calculate the portal site.”

Khadgar patted Torque on the head. “Well done.”

“I’m going to sleep well tonight,” Torque announced and strut off to the inn.

“Dadda,” Rena reached for Khadgar.

Bellon handed her to Khadgar, who held her to look into her eyes. “You and I have a work to do. Do you mind?” he asked Bellon.

“No, I also have work to do.” Bellon sighed. “I’m glad you’re here. I trust you to be more responsible.”

“Me too,” Loa said coming to his side. “I also know she’s safe with you. If the Sith Emperor himself appeared in this cave trying to take her, I trust you to be able to protect her.”

“Your confidence is much appreciated, though Archmage Sharpshiv is highly capable,” Khadgar said with a smile.

“Oh, I know that,” Bellon agreed. “He’s just, how shall we say, easily distracted.”

 

 

The next day was a day of preparation for the marines and sailors of the Alliance. A gnome-built submarine had been recalled to the base for preparations, and ammunition was being shuttled from the surface. Khadgar and Torque were working with Rena in an area away from the nervous Alliance forces. They were shrinking and moving Torque’s trike.

Suddenly, the massive submarine was the size of a bath toy and Rena was making a giggling bee-line for it.

“Put it back, put it back!” Capt. Glovaal screamed. “There are men inside.”

Bellon intercepted Rena. “Naughty, only what Mr. Khadgar says you can shrink. Fix it.” He glared at his daughter and pointed at the bobbing submarine.

“Ma?”

“No.”

Rena gave a little pout and the submarine returned to its normal size.

Humans and gnomes began scrambling out in a panic demanding to know what had happened. Glovaal rubbed his face and got himself under control before reassuring his troops.

“Sorry about that,” Khadgar told the men. “I guess she wanted to try something bigger.” He took Rena back to the corner.

“Well, that was a good test, if a little traumatic for the people involved,” Bellon said as he started to follow the mage.

There was an explosion of water and a small Chiss-made speeder, apparently converted to a submarine, with Imperial markings settled on the water’s surface. Everyone had a weapon ready and trained on it. The top hatch opened, but the head that popped out was wearing a CEDF flight helmet. The owner of the helmet pulled it off and looked about unperturbed.

“Lt. Mitth,” Loa shouted holstering her blaster and striding toward the sub. “What the hell are you doing here with that?” She asked in Cheunh.

Lt. Mitth saluted Loa. “I brought you a little present, captain.” He gestured at the mini-sub. “Courtesy of Aristocra Prard, or Consular Domol if you prefer; he thought you might need it fighting the Naga et al what with the Sith being onto you and the presence of Republic Special Forces with a Jedi. We made a bunch of these for use on water planets like Manaan. It can sustain 2,000 bars of pressure for deep diving expeditions; she has a precision laser cannon, two ship-to-ship long-range blasters, and ship-to-surface missiles; she can reach a top speed of 300KPH. She has as much maneuverability in water as she does in low altitude flight.”

“You stole an imperial vehicle?” Bellon asked in common converging on the lieutenant as well.

“No!” Mitth responded in common as well; he was incensed at the implication. “We haven’t delivered them yet; there’s a difference. Why would they miss it if they haven’t taken possession of it yet? Call this a quality-control test.”

Loa was laughing and offered a hand to the junior pilot to help him ashore.

“I like you guys!” Torque strode up to the pilot and introduced himself.

“What about the markings? That makes it a little obvious,” Cinnabar pointed at the vehicle. “Why not no markings?”

“Consular Domol decided that if it had no markings, the Empire would KNOW it was us. If it has imperial markings, at the best they think one of their own is using it, at the worst they’re confused.” Mitth put his hands on his hips and regarded his handiwork. “Want to take her for a test run, captain?” he asked Loa in Cheunh.

“Would I ever.” Loa lept onto the bulkhead of the vessel and disappeared down the hatch.

“See ya in a bit,” Mitth announced to the rest with a wave and followed.

“I wanna ride,” Torque said forlornly as the vessel silently slipped below the surface.

Bellon patted his shoulder. “Let Loa have her fun; then she’ll take you for a ride.” He guided his friend back to where they had been working with Rena. “Khadgar, would you keep her with you when we start fighting? I don’t think she should be with Loa or I while we’re…”

“Killing things?” Torque finished. “Yeah, don’t want the baby to see how murderous mummy and daddy can be.”

Bellon glowered at Torque.

“I think that is a good idea,” Khadgar said handing Rena a piece of fruit.

“Do you think she’ll be ready?” Bellon asked stroking her hair.

“After that little impromptu demonstration? Yes,” Khadgar affirmed. “I think she should rest and play the rest of the day. After all, she is just a little girl.”

“ _Ticsi,_ ” Rena crawled into Bellon’s lap.

“What is tse-tse?” Torque asked.

Bellon took hold of one of Torque’s ears and yelled into it, “Clean your ears!” He laughed at Torque. “She said _Ticsi_ , it means father, that’s me. Your _Vasbo_ , green.”

“What’s Khadgar?”

“Khadgar!” Rena pointed at the archmage.

“That,” Bellon answered Torque’s question.

“How come he gets a name and I get a color?”

“Torque!” Rena toddled over, sat in his lap, and offered him the fruit that had been in her mouth.

“Happy now?” Bellon asked. “Do we need to make any gold contacts for tomorrow?”

Torque broke off a bite of the fruit and ate it. “Nah, we got tons, Lux and me. You got your fart rifle of death ready?”

“Yup. Actually, I’m going to do a little target practice. Shooting under water is different.” He sauntered off leaving Rena with the two mages. “Oh, and don’t let her shrink anything if there are people in it.”


	13. The Battle at the Throne of Tides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loa takes her new ship into battle; she is in her element.   
> In the meantime, Bellon does what he does best; stop the enemy in their tracks, with some help from Arbeth and Glovaal's men. Their job is to cover four members of the group, Khadgar, and the baby while they try to narrow down the location of Teashalach.   
> It takes the adults a while to figure out Rena knows they are in the wrong place. Now they have to discretely leave a battle. Not easy with Jedi and Sith watching their every move.

Everything and everyone was ready for the big task at hand; the party with Khadgar, Capt. Glovaal, and Loa peered over a coral bank down into an area known as Abyssal Breach, a bowl dominated by a maelstrom in the center. Naga, accompanied by octopus looking creatures (merciless ones) and tall tentacled bipeds (faceless ones), were battling Neptulon the Tidehunter and his allies of water and ice elementals.

“I can feel the taint,” Luxraina rubbed her arms. “I don’t see any bloody, great sword though.”

“I hope it didn’t fall into the maelstrom.” Loa pointed at the whirlpool.

“Lux, Cin, Torque, accompany Khadgar and Rena and find that damned thing.”

“Dfrey, your language,” Loa hissed in Cheunh nodding at the baby strapped to Khadgar’s chest.

“Shi… there are Sith down there,” Bellon pointed to three figures not far from the ridge on which they hid; the three were wielding red-bladed lightsabers fighting with the forces of Neptulon, defender of the old gods.

Loa kissed his cheek. “We’ll take care of them.” She returned to the sub-fighter. Lt. Mitth was waiting as her co-pilot.

“We will make sure they do not notice you,” Glovaal assured and left to take command of the Alliance submarine.

Bellon and Arbeth moved to find locations from which they could see the full battlefield. Their job was to clear the path for the search team.

Capt. Glovaal’s marines started down the side of the slope into the Breach. They would enter the fight in support of Neptulon and his allies in an effort to distract the forces of the Naga queen Aszhara from noticing the search team.

Luxraina went with the search team; her job was to make sure anything killed stayed killed.

Loa’s fightersub and Glovaal’s large sub moved out over the battlefield. The large sub would watch for and defend against Ozumet, the Kraken, and whale sharks that might be drawn by the chaos. Loa and Mitth would provide “air” support for the search team. Bellon had adapted flight helmet comms to the group’s head gear so they would all be in contact.

At first, the new arrivals to the battle went unnoticed and the searchers made good progress. Then a Naga commander saw them and ordered a squad of his soldiers to attack them.

Loa swooped in laying waste to the squad before they could get near the search party. That drew more Nagas’ attention to the small sub as well as the attention of the Sith. Firing bolts of magic at it drew Bellon’s attention. That meant dead Nagas.

“This is almost like old times; kicking ass and not taking names,” Torque chimed over the comms.

“Your job is to keep Rena safe,” Bellon reminded sharply, “and find that sword.”

“Cut the chatter,” Loa ordered.

“I am sensing corruption, but it is all around us,” Cinnabar said. “It is going to be hard to triangulate the sword’s position.”

“I concur,” Luxraina added.

“We’ll have to locate it visually,” Loa announced. “Did I just see a dead Naga get back up and start fighting?”

“Yes,” Bellon responded. “Cut the chatter,” he added with a tinge of humor. “That’s why Lux is chopping off heads.”

“And shmushing them,” Torque added.

“Torque, behind you,” Luxraina shouted.

Torque spun, his staff up as a guard. His hand shot out throwing out blades of ice. A faceless one fell over. Luxraina moved in and beheaded the creature.

“I’m going to do a little high-elevation recon. See if I can see anything that might be this sword we’re looking for,” Loa announced and circling the battlefield about 50 meters above the basin floor; she began spiraling up. “Damn, Sith at 8-8 incoming, a shit-load of them.” It was an ancient way to position within a 3D environment. 8 o’clock was the horizontal orientation and 8 o’clock the vertical orientation. Twelve was directly above and directly in front; six was directly below and directly to the rear.

At about the same time, Bellon saw a group of Orcs, Trolls, and Blood Elves in Horde livery rush onto the battlefield. “Torque, Luxraina, the Horde just joined the fun; keep your faceguards down and heads low. Arbeth is with me; Loa track the Sith.”

“Whose side are they on, ours or the Nagas?” Loa asked.

“Ours,” Arbeth answered after watching the commander, a huge Orc, order his troops against a group of Nagas beating back several elementals.

“Loa, you have a passenger,” Bellon barked. “a Sith…”

“I see,” she responded frustrated. “She’s in my viz pointing with her saber.” Loa banked in the direction the Sith was indicating and opened fire on a group of faceless ones attacking the newly arrived Horde contingent. “The others should be entering the abyss about… now.”

“I see. If you pass close enough, I’m going to take care of your passenger,” Bellon snarled to himself.

“Stay on task; our baby is out there. I’ll take care of this Sith.” Loa shot back. “Keep those other bastards away from her.”

As the search party moved around the battlefield, Rena kept babbling and leaning southwest.

“She really doesn’t want us getting any closer to the entry to the Throne of Tides,” Torque noted at one point.

“Maybe because that is where the big bad thing is,” Cinnabar suggested. “Loa can you…”

“Sorry, no, this damned bitch is beginning to really piss me off. She seems to think I’m her personal battlefield chauffer. What in the name of the Families is THAT?”

“Ozumet,” Cinnabar yelled. At that moment, Glovaal’s submarine broke off from the fight and went after the huge Kraken.

“That thing has drawn the attention of the new Sith.” Loa reported.

“Don’t you dare go anywhere near that thing!” Bellon shouted fearfully as the fightersub began to turn toward the huge beast.

“Don’t worry, babe, I got this.” There was a tone to Loa’s voice that was a bit worrisome. “If that’s where this bitch wants to go? That is where this bitch is going!”

Bellon watched in horror as the little sub darted to within reach of the arms of the massive cephalopod. One arm with suction cups the size of the sub swept across the top of it. One minute the Sith was there, the next she wasn’t. “You’re clear. Get out of there!”

“Roger that,” the little sub went to max speed away from Ozumet and high over the entry into Neptulon’s realm. “I am not getting any readings indicating a large metallic object within the maelstrom. I am getting lots of life-form readings.” As Loa reported, thousands more ice and water elementals poured out of the Throne of Tides to join the battle.

“It’s getting crowded down here,” Khadgar said as the four tried to find a spot out of the fighting.

“It’s about to get more crowded,” Loa announced. “Incoming Jedi. This is going to get real interesting real fast.”

“Who the hell invited them?” Bellon growled. “We’re changing position,” he announced. He and Arbeth moved to find a better spot from which to help the search party.

“Too bad we can’t shoot from the back of one of those big fish we see around here,” Arbeth said as she and Bellon swam above the fighting in search of a more advantageous location.

“That’s it!” Cinnabar spoke up excited. “Wil’hai.”

“Well hi to you too,” Torque responded uncertainly.

“No, ‘Will-high’ is the name of a whale shark entrapped by the Tentacles of Horror on the plateau west of us. Wavespeaker Valoren got me to help free Wil’hai,” the Pandaren explained.

“So where is this Valoren and Wil’hai now?” Luxraina asked. “AND, is Wil’hai friendly? All of the whale sharks I’ve seen so far are distinctly NOT friendly.”

“Erunak Stonespeaker might know,” Khadgar suggested. “Why is she trying to climb onto my shoulders?”

“Because she’s a squirmy, little _Gizka_ ,” Bellon said. “She’s probably bored with riding in the carrier.”

“I can’t put her down in the middle of a battlefield,” Khadgar said. “I’m going to cast a light sleep spell on her. No harm will be done.”

“So, any suggestions how to find Valoren and Wil’hai?” Bellon asked trusting Khadgar with his daughter. He took aim at a Faceless one, leaving the Sith and Jedi to each other. The Faceless one fell; Luxraina swept in and beheaded it.

“Go to the plateau,” Cinnabar said.

“You stay with your family, Billy. I’ll go,” Arbeth peeled off toward the elevated area Cinnabar had indicated.

Bellon acknowledged her with a nod and immediately shot and killed a Nameless One closing in on Cinnabar. “Loa, your 7-6,” he shouted.

Ozumet was snatching at anything and everything including the fightersub that had moved back into the range of the fast-moving creature’s reach. Loa evaded the tentacle, swung around and fired into it nearly severing it.

“He got another Sith,” Loa announced as one tentacle, holding something, fed it into its mouth.

“Good,” Bellon retorted unsympathetically.

“Shit, did you see that?” Torque was pushing the group away from a severed, writhing tentacle.

The survivor of the original three Sith had created a bubble beneath himself and used it to propel him up into Ozumet’s body. His lightsaber over his head sliced through the creature as if it were nothing. He appeared the other side of its body and ran to one of the tentacles and began hacking it. When the tentacle fell, it was toward the search party.

“That thing has its own brain,” Torque said. “Until the tentacle brain is killed, it will be active. Someone kill it for good!”

It was obvious the Sith’s damage had slowed but not stopped Ozumet. It was after all a small amount of damage to a huge creature on a planet that didn’t believe in death.

“Where is the tentacle brain located?” Loa asked.

“The thick part,” Torque answered casting an ice attack that slowed the  motion of the severed tentacle. Khadgar and Cinnabar were moving Rena away from it.

“Khadgar, Jedi approaching, your 5,” Bellon announced.

“Where?” the archmage looked around confused.

“Behind your right,” Bellon explained.

Loa dove in dodging the still attached tentacles to slice through the thicker portion using the ship’s precision laser cannon.

“Torque, stop that Jedi,” Khadgar ordered as he cast a spell to increase his speed.

Torque spun and a block of ice erupted around the Jedi freezing him in place.

The tentacle twitched a couple of times then lay still. Unfortunately, there was now a copious amount of blood spilling out and spreading with the current. It wasn’t long before that attracted sharks of all shapes and sizes.

Bellon saw the search party use magic to shoot across the entrance of the Throne of Tides to get clear of the feeding frenzy erupting around the severed tentacle and injured Kraken and away from the advancing Sith and Jedi. The Horde troops and Glovaal’s marines also began converging on the Kraken. It was weakened but still lashing out. Bellon had to get out of there.

“Loa, I need to move fast; get down here,” he called over his communicator. He saw the small sub change course toward him even as Loa responded.

“You aren’t a Sith. How will you stay on?”

“Let me worry about that. If I stay here, I’ll be some beasts lunch.” He knew the water would create more resistance than air and he had to pick the most optimal location. He wedged himself against the aft arch of the aquatic drive intake housing. “Go.” His position was the one spot where there was cavitation.

To prevent any drag that might throw off the balance of the vessel, he had to shift his position slightly as Loa dove, rose, and banked her way through a combat zone. The small area of cavitation would shift as the ship shifted.

The upper part of the housing was clear giving the pilot and co-pilot full visual range. He could see Lt. Mitth firing the aft guns, even see the heads-up display the officer was using. He winced every time one of Mitth’s shots missed; to him the aim should have been true and the shot easy. He reminded himself that Mitth was in fact a pilot, not a weapons officer.

When he was over Torque, Cinnabar, and Khadgar, he kicked off and swam down to join them. They were now on the northeast side of the Throne of Tides. Bellon leaned over to his sleepy daughter.

“Ma,” she whispered and pointed southwest before closing her eyes again.

“Loa, what’s southwest of us?” he asked.

“More fighting; you just came from there,” she said a little perturbed. “I think the Force users are onto us; they are all peeling away from that creature and headed your direction.”

“No, beyond this basin. Can you see what is beyond this basin?” He said staring at the distant rising wall that led to the plateau Arbeth had headed for.

“L’Ghorek,” Arbeth answered. “His body is about 50 miles south of me. Not a whole lot else except coral reef.”

“You said he was like Nespira. He’s huge,” Bellon muttered. “Arbeth, is his body big enough to hide a big-ass Titan’s sword?”

It was as if that question froze time. Khadgar slowly turned and stared in that direction. He looked up and noted the direction from which the blood of the battle was flowing. “How completely stupid of us. She wants us to go to L’Ghorek; that’s what she was trying to tell us.”

“We’re in the wrong place?” Torque asked exasperated.

“Yes,” Khagar answered. “We need to find a way to leave this battlefield without attracting notice.”

“Well, let’s go,” Torque said and started to move toward the distant creature.

“Easier said than done.” Bellon caught the back of Torque’s robe. “As long as those Sith and Jedi are onto us, sneaking off is not an option. They’ll just follow.”

“Coming in with an ally. Let me handle it,” Arbeth announced over the communicator just as the massive form of Wil’hai came into view. “He’s really hungry after having been trapped for so long. Oh, you guys might want to get out of the way.”

“Arbeth, bless you; you two just drew the attention of the Sith AND the Jedi. They aren’t headed for the others… at least not right now,” Loa announced.

Khadgar led them over the lip of the ridge that dropped into the Throne of Tides. There was a small shelf the five just fit on. Loa took the fightersub high.

The giant whale shark dove down, opened its maw, and swam just above the basin floor sucking everyone and everything in, including the Sith and Jedi. It left a huge swath of empty in its wake. It swam up, turned and made another pass.

“Uh, the Horde and Alliance have noticed he’s a little indiscriminate in who he eats,” Loa announced. “Get out of there, Arbeth.”

Both the Horde and Alliance subs were on the verge of moving to engage the giant fish when the Kraken, Ozumet shot out a tentacle and hit both subs. The vehicles spun and hit the ocean floor. Their attention was back on the Kraken.

“Okay, everyone is busy. Time to go,” Khadgar announced. He created a bubble around the six of them. The bubble shot up heading generally southwest. “There he is,” Khadgar said when they were high enough to see over the rim.

“You forgot Arbeth,” Cinnabar said.

“No, he didn’t,” Bellon pointed at another, smaller bubble following them.


	14. L'Ghorek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Followed by a horde of Sith and Jedi, the question is will our intrepid group get the sword before they are overwhelmed.  
> Rena Saves The Day! And the baby comes through.

The small bubble caught up with them and incorporated Arbeth. Rena was now awake and staring intently toward their designation. Loa and her sub caught up and paced them.

“I hate to tell you but your departure didn’t go unnoticed; you’re being followed. Albeit slowly, they seem more intent on stopping each other than reaching you,” Loa announced.

Khadgar groaned and squeezed more speed out of the bubble.

“Torque take over for Khadgar; he looks tired,” Bellon whispered to Torque.

“I’ll run this thing, Kaddy my man. You see if you can figure out with Little Squirmy where specifically we are supposed to look.” It was an obvious ploy, but it worked.

After a quiet moment between Khadgar and Rena, the elder mage sighed. “All she is aware of is that direction is the source of the contamination.”

“Straight and level, little green man,” Loa shouted over comms. “You’re all over the place.”

“Sorry, but this is fun.” Torque was grinning from one large ear to the other.

“Focus; you have to land that thing safely. My man or my daughter get hurt and I will end you, and all your future generations,” Loa warned.

“Yes, ma’am.” Torque sobered immediately.

“I hate to confirm Loa’s earlier observation, but we are being followed,” Luxraina warned.

Everyone turned to look; about four kilometers behind them were groups of Force users speeding through the water. They were not keeping up since each was throwing something in an effort to slow the opposition down.

“We will have to deal with them BEFORE Rena does anything with the sword,” Bellon said.

“All of them?” Cinnabar gasped. “Billy, there must be 100 of them.”

“How are we going to ambush two companies?” Cinnabar asked.

“Ambush?” Bellon asked. “Cin, are you becoming a fighter?” It was a gentle tease.

She stroked Rena’s hair. “I just don’t want anyone to hurt her.” Her tone was resolved.

Bellon visualized Nespira’s interior. It was where they needed to be and would force the Jedi and Sith to come at them through two narrow corridors. He was tempted to have Loa take Rena back to Darkbreak Cove; but if those Force users had sensed her, they would follow. His stomach churned at the idea of his baby girl being bait but it had to be.

“Heh, didn’t Nespira have several chambers off her main body?”

“Yes,” Cin responded. She smiled. “L’Ghorek has them too. There’s the cerebellium and one opposite that leads up to where his heart used to be. We can send Rena there and take care of our fans at the entry point.”

Bellon kissed her cheek. “You are starting to think like a fighter. Loa, break off and go back to the abyss; I’ll call you when you should join us. I don’t want anyone catching on that you’re with us.”

“Good, I keep getting radio calls from the Sith to do this or that; Mitth has been bullshitting them that rises to your bullshitting skill.”

“I learned by observing,” Mitth quipped. “Be safe out there,” he added.

“So, what’s the plan?” Arbeth asked.

It took only about 30 minutes to cover the 50 or so miles from the battle to the shell of the deceased mollusk. The squabbling Force users had fallen behind and were out of sight when the bubble entered the opening in the shell; it was similar to the one Cinnabar had said was Nespira’s anus.

There was a feeling of death, an emptiness that Nespira did not have. Worse was the skin-crawling sense of evil. Rena whimpered and cowered. Bellon leaned over and kissed her head. “Get her to the chamber,” he told Khadgar pointing across the cavernous interior.

“Oh, shit!” Torque was in the lead and froze in his tracks.

The others exited the aperture and there was the sword they sought. It had fallen dead center; if L’Ghorek had been alive, the sword piercing its vital organs would have killed it. It wasn’t as large as Gorribal but had a similar shimmer of dark energy about it.

Arbeth turned to Bellon. “How do you want us?”

He took in the vast interior. “Guys, we have a change of plans. Everyone, into the heart chamber tunnel. GO!”

Everyone but the two mages began running for the far side of the dead mollusk. Torque and Khadgar disappeared and instantly reappeared in the entry to the chamber.

“What are you thinking?” Torque asked as the others arrived.

“I am going to let the ocean do the work for us. As soon as the sword is shrunken, it will leave a gaping hole in the top of the shell. The pressure of the depths will shatter the shell and it will collapse on our new best friends. They won’t stay dead, but it will give us time to send Taeshalach to Gorribal and get the hell out of here.”

“Uh, what about us?” Torque asked looking askance at the top of the shell.

“As soon as the sword is shrunken and transported, we must do those both instantly, you and I shall create a pressure shell to protect us,” Khadgar explained.

“I can use divine shield to protect us while you’re transporting the blade,” Lux offered.

“I can use Power Shield as well; it only lasts about 15 seconds…”

“Time enough to get the sword out of here,” Khadgar said. “Once the sword is clear…”

“You follow the sword. I’ll teleport us to Wyrmrest Temple,” Torque said. “But, Kaddy my man, you will have to make the portal for the sword to Gorribal.” He shoved a piece of paper at Khadgar. “This is the spell you’ll need.”

“Why to Wyrmrest Temple?” Bellon asked.

Torque grinned. “There ain’t no way those asses would follow us to Alexstraza’s throne room. You, on the other hand, are her favorite mortal.”

“What about Loa?” Arbeth asked.

Bellon held up a finger, “Loa, get back to the Raptor; meet us in Northrend, the Dragonblight, Wyrmrest Temple. Someone should have the coordinates for your flight plan.”

“What about…”

“Torque is a little, green genius when he wants to be. We’ll meet you there.” Bellon ended the call and focused on the entry points.

“I can hear them,” Torque whispered. “I don’t think all of them survived. That makes our job easier.”

They all went quiet. Even the baby seemed to understand the need to keep quiet. Bellon’s sharp eyes caught movement in the opening to the orifices.

Two Jedi and two Sith entered the cavern cautiously. Both groups froze at the sight of the huge tainted sword. As if knowing the Sith intent to seize the sword the Jedi ignited their blades and attacked.

Bellon hissed in pleasure as more Force users followed their leaders into the shell. The opposing forces reacted predictably and the fight between four grew to a battle royale on the opposite side of the mollusk’s body.

“Now,” he mouthed to Khadgar and nodded at Luxraina and Cinnabar

“Are you ready to make it little?” Khadgar asked as he touched his forehead to Rena’s.

“ _hith’n'bo_!” She shouted and pointed at the sword.

Everything happened exceedingly fast. Torque barely had time to grab her foot so both he and Khadgar could channel the shrinky-dink spell through her into the huge sword. Luxraina and Cinnabar had an instant to throw up their protective shells as the sword reduced in size nearly 100-fold.

Bellon realized she was saying, _“Ch'ithsin'bo”,_ which meant small; but that is a big word for a little girl.

Water immediately began pouring in through the gaping hole in the shell left by the now vacant sword. The room echoed with the sound of the cracking shell.

Khadgar gasped when a human-sized Taeshalach rose out of the center of the mollusk’s shell. Rena was already moving the sword through the cascading water and shell fragments. He handed her off to her father and began reading the spell Torque had given him.

Everyone grit their teeth as the corrupted item drifted closer. When it started to waiver, Bellon reassured his little girl, and the sword moved steadily again. At last it was over the portal, which Khadgar had made at their feet. Through the portal, everyone could see and feel Gorribal. It was as if Gorribal sensed the presence of its other half and was reaching for it.

Khadgar took a deep breath; just before the sword fell through the portal and expanded back to full size, he jumped into the portal following the sword. With his departure, the portal closed.

“Hurry, we can’t hold much longer,” Lux ordered.

Torque began opening the portal to the dragon temple. Except for the small area over their heads, the shell was gone, and the ocean was a raging torrent filling the vacuum. The shell above them was starting to give way as well and bits falling on the six as the water rose around them.

There was relief when the portal opened. They were wet but jumped through to land on the cold surface of the wide-open interior. Water was flowing through it as well.

Torque shut the portal and gasped. “Shit, it’s cold!”


	15. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The task is successfully over. Bellon and the gang have saved the planet, with the help of a little girl. Nothing left now but to sit back and rest on their laurels. Or not...

It took Loa almost 24 hours to get clearance to take the _Raptor_ out of the Chiss Alliance hangar at Desolace Space Port. When she arrived, she was there long enough to be introduced to Alexstraza, then the group boarded and took off directly back to Desolace.

“Anyone know what that is?” Loa asked as they started to descend. There was a huge column of smoke to her northwest. It had to be a massive fire to see it from 45,000 kilometers up.

Everyone crammed into the cockpit to see.

“Go a little faster,” Bellon urged when he saw Luxraina and Cinnabar shudder.

As they approached the space port and could see Silithus’ seared landscape in the distance, Torque pointed excitedly. “It’s gone! It worked.” He grabbed Rena and began dancing and singing in victory.

They exited the ship with the intent of taking a shuttle to Silithus but were stopped by an armed group of CEDF soldiers. The soldiers led the group out of the hanger by a discrete route to an unmarked shuttle to Dalaran and then to the room above the Legerdemain Bellon had used to brief Thrall and Khadgar.

Thrall and Khadgar were waiting, as well as the Chiss Consular, Aristocra Prard.

“Gentlemen,” Bellon greeted cautiously. Something felt very wrong.

“Kaddy my man! It worked!” Torque bounded over to the archmage.

Khadgar’s smile was fleeting. “Yes, it worked better than we hoped. When Taeshalach fell next to Gorribal, the two blades merged. Azeroth then absorbed Gorshalach. When the Titan Azeroth emerges, she will have a mighty blade.”

“So, what is wrong?” Cinnabar asked.

Thrall grunted and shook his massive head. “Yesterday… Master Dekidt, what is wrong?”

“I can’t help but feel we are being watched. Please, continue.”

Thrall and Khadgar both fell momentarily silent as if reaching out with the Force for something. Bellon noted that whatever he felt, they also sensed. Luxraina and Cinnabar both went on alert. Now Torque was taking notice. Rena seemed blissfully unaware and was playing with her mother’s hair.

Thrall cleared his throat and spoke softly. “Yesterday, Sylvanas Windrunner attacked and set fire to Tedrasill.”

“What?” Cinnabar reacted viscerally to the news.

“Tedrasill?” Loa asked looking to Loro.

“Tedrasill is the World Tree, home to the Night Elves. Over ten million Nightelves live in Darnassas and the surrounding area.” Khadgar shuddered. “As far as we can tell, none escaped. Though mages everywhere are looking for those who might have gotten out via portals.”

“There were Gilneans living there too,” Arbeth trembled. “After they were driven from Gilneas, Tyrande Whisperwind gave them a home there. My brother told me that.”

Luxraina hugged her. “I’m sure your brother wasn’t there.” The news explained a feeling she had when they saw the cloud; it was a wave of inexplicable grief and the sensation that part of the Light was diminished. “This is not what the Horde is supposed to be about.” She looked pleadingly at everyone.

Thrall shook his head. “No, this is a personal vendetta; this is genocide.”

“How can the Horde allow this to happen?” Bellon demanded angrily looking at his friends. “Why don’t they stop her?”

Arbeth shook her head as she fought tears. “The Forsaken don’t have free will. Sylvanas claimed we did but it was a lie. Remember? She was in my head until King Greymane broke her connection to us through her control over the Valkyr. She must have found a way to reestablish that control.”

“But she’s not controlling you now, is she?” Torque asked.

Arbeth shook her head. “I think that’s because I haven’t returned to her and the Forsaken.” She was crying now.

“This woman must be stopped,” Loro announced just as Bellon spun toward the door drawing his blaster.

“I agree.” A towering true Sith walked into the room. “Put your blaster away, Major Bellon. I come to help.”

“Lord Scourge,” Bellon hissed. He didn’t holster his blaster, but he held it at his side and stepped clear of the Sith. “Master Satele,” his greeting was distinctly unfriendly. He moved between them and Rena.

“Who are you?” Khadgar asked passively meeting the Sith’s gaze.

“The Emperor’s Wrath,” Loro said also moving away from him. “And head of the Jedi Counsel, Grandmaster Satele Shan. You are in strange company.” He indicated the Jedi and Sith.

Scourge ignored everyone but fixed his gaze on Bellon. “Who benefits from the violent death of millions?”

Bellon finally holstered his blaster. “The Emperor. Is he still at it? I thought we put an end to him, Master Satele.”

Scourge shook his head. “He is immortal. This Sylvanas, however, is not. I sense that the Emperor is manipulating her.”

“She’s unstable to begin with,” Arbeth said shaking herself out of her grief. “She would be easy to manipulate.” She glared at Thrall. “You could fix this; you should have fixed it and not let her become Warchief of the Horde.”

“After I removed Garrosh, I put Vol’jin in charge. I was not present when he was wounded or had his vision and named Sylvanas as his successor,” Thrall defended. “Even I cannot depose a Warchief without cause. Though now I have cause.”

“Vision you say?” Satele asked. She shot a meaningful glance at the Sith.

“Yeah,” Torque turned to his friends. “Remember when we got back from Silverymoon and Sylvanas said she was the Warchief? Everyone said that Vol’jin had a dying vision in which she was Warchief and would lead the Horde to greatness.”

“A dying vision.” Scourge shook his head. “A vision no doubt given to him in a weakened state by the Emperor.”

Everyone stared at him assimilating that information.

“So, what is it you want of us?” Loro demanded.

“He wants us to assassinate her,” Bellon answered.

“And how do we do that?” Torque demanded crossing his arms over his chest. “We can’t get close to her. She hates us.”

“That little girl could do it; she is strong with the Force,” Satele noted.

“No!” Loa jumped up beside Bellon her own blaster out. “No one touches my baby.”

“She needs proper training,” Satele argued forcefully.

“She has the best teachers in the galaxy that I know,” Bellon nodded at Khadgar and Torque. “They will also teach her empathy.” He glared at both.

Torque had picked up Rena and was holding her protectively one hand free and ready to cast whatever spell was necessary. Luxraina and Cinnabar stood at his side also ready.

“Everyone, relax,” Khadgar ordered. The enervating power of his voice ricocheted around the room permeating everyone. Even Lord Scourge and Master Satele felt their energy being sapped, forcing them to either kneel or sit; both chose to sit. Khadgar took Rena from Torque and sat again beside his peer, Thrall.

Only two were apparently unaffected. Thrall smiled at Khadgar’s almost orcish way of handling the situation. Rena leaned against Khadgar’s chest, one thumb in her mouth as she stroked the silk robe with her free hand

Scourge took a heaving breath to reconnect to the incredible Force power of this planet. After a moment he spoke. “It is not a gifted Force sensitive you need.” Scourge turned his gaze to Bellon. “You need a master assassin.”

Bellon groaned audibly. “Not again.”


End file.
